Which methodology is best for R&D projects?

Someone recently asked about the best methodology for managing a research and development (R&D) project. The answer depends on many factors. Here are a few things to consider and the methodologies you might use depending on the nature of your R&D project.

• Project goals and objectives. R&D projects usually have lots of unknowns. You might be testing new materials, new processes, new tools, or all of these! Working through unknowns requires flexibility and taking small steps. You’ll want to promote learning during the project, too. Agile methodologies, using short iterations, are ideal for this type of situation. Each iteration might not produce a tangible product but can generate learning and knowledge, which help define the next step for the project. Projects where the driver of iterations is learning as you go are sometimes referred to as Spiral Projects. Each “spiral” will help identify and refine the goals and objectives for the next spiral or iteration.

• Team size and location. Larger teams, or teams with critical skills working remotely, need more formal structure. It’s important to take time to ensure communication is flowing and information is understood. In this case, a more predictive methodology like waterfall is helpful. But, you rarely need to manage an entire project this way. A hybrid approach can be effective. A sub-team that is not co-located with the core team might use agile methods. Then, they can work with the core team to integrate their deliverables into the waterfall project that the core team manages.

• How much you know about requirements. Agile projects are ideal when requirements aren’t well-defined. Requirements emerge through exploring and producing sample deliverables. However, R&D projects often have well-defined goals and well-understood requirements. Research and development come in with the processes for satisfying those requirements. For example, a car manufacturer has requirements for an electric car battery that is half the weight of current batteries with 20% more range. In this example, an agile project might be the way to go to try out new chemical and manufacturing processes.

(On the other hand, agile isn’t as good a fit when the requirement is to produce a chili pepper that is tasty but not hot. You need to plan to determine who your target market is. More planning, in the form of market research, might be needed to determine consumers perceptions of tasty peppers and hot peppers. Because of this planning, a waterfall project might be the answer.)

• Your organizational culture and expertise. Because of unknowns, R&D projects are typically complex and costly. Introducing a methodology that your organization isn’t familiar with will escalate that complexity. If you decide to use an unfamiliar methodology, start slow. If possible, try the methodology in a small area of your project. Consider bringing in experienced people to help. You can then expand the use of this methodology as you learn. Iin other words, start with the methodology you know and migrate to new ones as you gain experience.

If you work on R&D projects, I’d love to hear about the methodologies you use and any best practices you’ve learned. Share with us in the comments section.

For more about agile and waterfall methodologies, check out my Project Management Foundations course and Doug Rose’s Agile Foundations course.

Coming Up

My updated Advanced Microsoft Project has been published to the LinkedIn Learning library. This update is completely rerecorded with a new, comprehensive sample project. It is half as long as the previous edition because I took out all the topics I cover in my other Project courses. My humble opinion is that it is also more engaging, because of everything I’ve learned about recording videos in the past 8 years! Here is a link that lets you watch the course for free for the first 24 hours after you begin watching.

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/advanced-microsoft-project-22898395

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