i have worked on like 10 DoD/NASA projects which require the delivery of
hardware. i think how to manage a project is dependent on what kind of
students you have and how you want to work with them. since none of these
project could be done by only one student, i always assigned a team to work
together. i assign a student as the team lead. it is completely up to them
how many times they meet in a week, when they meet, where they meet, and
what they discuss at the meetings. i only meet with them once a week. at
that meeting they tell me what they have done last week, discuss any
technical/non-technical problem, and set the plan for next week. if they
feel there is a need, without me asking, they put in more time working
together to get it done. this management style has been working for my lab.
i've never failed in delivering to my sponsors. my personal feeling is that
having more meetings with my students could be a waste of my time and theirs
. but again, it is different from lab to lab.