Making new stuff is exciting. We talk about inspiration, creative sparks, and brainstorms; we celebrate debuts and unveilings. But while launch celebrations are common, nobody ever throws a research party. It’s easy to neglect the R part of R&D amidst all the attention to the D.
Newsletters tagged "R&D"
Volume 11, #3, May 2013
Why you need an attitude change about the what, who, and when of research
Volume 11, #2, April 2013
Accounting for customer needs assures a high-value outcome
Many companies don’t measure R&D efficiency at all. Those that do often use a fatally flawed method: measuring sales per R&D employee. The problem with this common metric is that it provides feedback only after you’ve already made the mistakes that decrease R&D efficiency. Here’s a different approach to measuring R&D efficiency that takes a page from manufacturing’s book—and combines it with a focus on the customer.
Volume 8, #9, December 2010
Innovation and the Fear Factor
When creating products, a short-term focus only works for so long; tweaking existing market winners and responding incrementally to customer needs is not a recipe for long-term success. Fear of investing in ideas that might fail consigns you perpetually to also-ran status.
Volume 9, #5, June 2010
Assessing Your Company's Innovation Maturity
To understand whether it's safe to give your R&D department the corporate equivalent of the keys to the family car—and figure out what to do if it's not—you need a framework for evaluating maturity.