World Class R&D Checklist
This checklist is under development. Check back frequently for updates.
This is a checklist of management features we would expect to see in any World Class R&D organization. They are mostly presented in an "I" versus "You" dichotomy. The funding agent is represented by "I". The recipient of the funding, or R&D management, is represented by "You". Each of these players has rights and responsibilities as described in the checklist items. A further description of each item, as well as any relevant website articles, can be found by clicking on the item.Heed all warnings on how checklists are to be used.
- Pre-game (1)
- I give you up-front funding to prove the commercial merit of your basic research; You promise to build a team that will master the compulsories (1)
- I look 98% at the motivations of a team in placing my funds; You agree to look 98% at the motivations of the team in executing to my funds (1)
- I offer you access to a club with exclusive membership privileges; You demonstrate you can live up to the standards of the club (1)
- I allow you freedom in the what and how of your research; You develop the means to earn that freedom (3)
- I give you leeway to pursue blockbusters where ever your science leads you; You accord me first rights to purchase your blockbuster as I deem fit (1)
- I expect you to be the best in the science underlying your R&D pursuit; You expect me to include science in my assessment of your progress (2)
- I provide funding for most worthwhile R&D investment opportunities; You ensure a continuous supply of high caliber investment opportunities (1)
- We agree up-front what can go wrong (and right) with investment and the remedies (1)
- We agree up-front that all funding agreements can be amended based on circumstances (1)
- Mid-game (1)
- I allow you to set your own deadlines; You acknowledge interim assessments hinge on tight deadlines (2)
- I disentangle the performance of management, the science, and the team in my assessments; Youn agree to fix any underperforming components (2)
- I give you freedom to tack and turn as the science demands; You acquiesce to an independent assessment of your progress (1)
- I judge achievements in terms of their effectiveness; You ensure the team understands the nature of effectiveness (3)
- I allow you to seek outside funding; You protect my interests from unnecessary dilution (1)
- I ensure a level playing field and independence in major decisions affecting you; You acquiesce to the decision mechanism and its outcomes (2)
- I ensure club membership privileges are indeed exclusive; You contribute to building and maintaining the exclusive nature of these privileges (2)
- I ensure membership privileges contribute to your success; You help us to help you through your honesty using in member privileges (1)
- I eschew cheap heuristics in funding decisions; You eschew cheap heuristics in research decisions (4)
- I give you funding for discontinuous discovery; You give a steady stream of (sub-blockbuster) products for interim revenues (2)
- I give you credit in funding for a steady stream of sub-blockbuster products; You don’t ignore the need for a steady stream of products (0)
- I provide funding based on future blockbuster potential ; You accept that funding is based on ‘what have you done for me lately’ (1)
- I provide you flexibility in the amount of funding; You grasp unexpected opportunities and surmount unforeseen obstacles (0)
- I give you great leeway on how you spend my funding; You show great stewardship in use of our funds (1)
- I promise to respect discontinuous discovery in funding; You promise to never hold me hostage to the success or failure of any one or few projects (0)
- I measure progress based on achievements, not goals; You show interocular achievements, with a commercial bent (0)
- I give you ownership of the fruits of your labor; You demonstrate that sense of ownership in how you labor (1)
- End-game (1)
- I give you great leeway in your R&D pursuit; You promise to stop when a blockbuster pursuit is no longer viable (4)
- I do not precipitously cut off funding in the event of discontinuance; You replace my funding or shut down in a timely manner (1)
- I make it worthwhile for you to continue as a club member even if you become self-funding (2)
- I give preference to employees of past research units; you make it easy for me to rehire you by branding yourself for many different pursuits. (1)
- I provide storage for all intellectual property gathered with my funds; You agree to protect my intellectual property (0)
- I provide ample notification if your trajectory is carrying you toward end-game; You use the notification to proactively institute changes before we sit down to talk. (1)
- Commercialization (5)
- I provide a level playing field to decide if your prototype graduates; You acquiesce to our rules for prototype graduation (1)
- I allow you to continue to explore many options for success; you agree to keep trying alternates until you find me a blockbuster combination (2)
- I make available the best commercialization advice during research; You make available your best research advice during commercialization (3)
- I put the developer of the innovative prototype in charge of commercialization; you agree to align the many divergent views on commercialization toward a common blockbuster goal (1)
- I don’t hold you to artifical deadlines or metrics during commericialization; you promise to abide by our shutodwn process when Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate. (1)
- I give you great freedom in our commercialization pursuit. You promise to leverage that freedom to increase our chance of success. (1)
