Introduction, Key Areas of Focus

By wcrdadmin on Mon, 02/15/2010 - 22:13

Key areas of focus were chosen based on our ability to influence them to increase R&D Effectiveness...

Governance

Sets the overall direction for R&D and secures funds to pursue that direction
Sets the tone for how all the work is to be done in R&D

Evidence Gathering

Is where the bulk of the work is performed, spending the bulk of the funds

By virtue of its size this activity is where the bulk of R&D effectiveness will be found. Do nothing else but increase the effectiveness of evidence gathering and overall R&D effectiveness can skyrocket. But of course, if you do nothing else the effectiveness of evidence gathering will not increase (on a sustainable basis).

It's the coin of the realm: if you can't authenticate the coinage then all transactions are tainted

The more we can trust the evidence, the less of a premium we'll demand to complete our research transactions, the more effective we can be in gathering evidence. We trust the evidence more because it includes its own measures of effectiveness, for example, evidence that includes customer involvement.

Management of Risk and Uncertainty

Ensures all work is directed towards products most likely to succeed
Is the basis of decisions that affect large portions of R&D activity, and hence is a significant contributor to R&D effectiveness

Organizational Behaviors

Recognizes the difficulty of measuring interim progress in creative endeavors

Captures the heart and soul of individuals involved in R&D, making the other areas more manageable

World Class R&D is a work-in-progress. We need individuals to forge ahead as we hone the ingredients for improved R&D effectiveness. Capture the imagination of the players and we can be less exact in our prescriptions.

Discussion

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R&D leadership and culture were deliberately not chosen as Areas of Focus

These are not areas where we can typically have much direct influence. We can't place individuals in training classes and teach them rules and heuristics for better management. What works for a repetitive, well-define activity like Customer Service will fail miserably for a creative activity. Instead we set up an R&D environment to allow World Class leadership and culture to emerge.

Exceptional leaders have little need for the prescriptions of this community. They succeed despite all organizational obstacles. The goal for World Class R&D is to make it possible for the merely good leaders to succeed. We place the R&D team in an environment that autonomously promotes 80-90% of the effective behaviors so leaders have time to concentrate on the exceptions. Good leaders are given the time and leeway to become exceptional leaders.

Culture is an evolving outcome of doing World Class R&D well. We provide the principles and an inventory of Tools & Techniques, but the selection and customization of these depends on the spirit of each team. Some teams will turn out to be highly competitive. Some will be exceptionally cooperative⁺ and careful to bring along all team members equally. As long as teams are effective (i.e., Work on the Right Pursuit, Work Together Towards a Common Pursuit, Maximize Useful Evidence from each Study), the culture and daily operations of individual teams should be of little concern to those who are watching.

Follow the prescriptions of World Class R&D and you will find yourself with a new cadre of exceptional leaders and several unique cultures. Or, you yourself will become an exceptional leader.

Different industries will emphasize different Areas of Focus

For example, the pharmaceutical Industry has a particularly strong emphasis on Management of Risk and Uncertainty. Evidence Gathering (i.e., getting the work done) might not be the common terminology, but will be found across most industries. Organizational Behaviors and Governance have similar commonalities across industries. The selected Areas of Focus were designed to be as encompassing as possible.

Consider each Area of Focus as an action verb: governing, gathering, managing, and organizing

We improve each of these actions but not by setting up or assigning separate entities to oversee the improvements in each area. World Class R&D does not envision a Vice President for Risk & Uncertainty, or a Center of Excellence in Organizational Behaviors, or any other such entities. Areas of Focus are categories within which we discuss overall recommendations. They are categories within which we design our improvement efforts.

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