What Does a Research and Development Department Do?

R & D management is a series of team building, process design, performance management, risk management, cost management, project management and knowledge management in the research and development process based on the information platform based on the design of the R & D architecture and various management theories. Coordinate activities.

R & D Management

R & D management is a broader management category. Can be understood from two aspects: narrow and broad:

Narrow definition: It refers to the management of the R & D or technical department and its work, focusing on the product development and testing process.

Broad definition: R & D work actually includes not only technology development work, but its scope covers the entire life cycle of new products, from the creation of product ideas, product concept formation, product market research, product design, product realization, product development, products Testing, product release, etc. From a management perspective, its scope covers product strategy and planning, market analysis and product planning, product and R & D organization structure design, R & D project management, R & D quality management, R & D team management, R & D performance management, R & D human resource management, and platform Development and technology pre-research.

1. Encourage innovation and create a corporate environment suitable for research and development;

2. Take the promised, open and equal corporate culture as the cornerstone of R & D management;

3. People-oriented, give play to the creativity and initiative of employees;

4. Consider product development as an investment, market-oriented, and attach importance to product portfolio management and product management stage decisions;

5. Adopt platform-based asynchronous development mode;

6. Matrix-type cross-department collaborative operation

7. Structured product development process

8. User demand is the root of driving R & D progress and innovation

The design of R & D management system needs to follow the following principles:

First, value-oriented and market-driven

Second, listen to the three aspects of sound (VOC, VOB, VOE)

Third, a balanced structured process (to strike a balance between structured and flexible)

Fourth, the organizational structure of cross-sector collaboration

Through the matrix organization mode, the cross-department collaborative R & D management process is realized. The product research and development team should include representatives from various fields such as market, technology, service, process, testing, manufacturing, etc., and should not be formed by a simple research and development organization.

Fifth, gradually strengthen the importance and role of project management

Project management permeates the entire process of R & D management. The thinking and methods of project management are widely accepted and used. The project manager has gradually evolved from a part-time job to a full-time professional manager.

Sixth, technology development is separated from product development, and an asynchronous mode is adopted to avoid being caught in the uncertainty and risks of technical research during the product development process.

Seventh, supporting implementation of performance management system

The effective design and implementation of the performance management system guarantees the implementation and implementation of the R & D management system.

Eighth, global planning, step-by-step implementation

The progress of the R & D management system does not happen overnight and requires a long process. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a scientific and systematic planning of the entire system at an early stage, and then implement it according to its own ability distribution. Teacher Zhong Fei Huaxia Yang Fei once said, "R & D management is scientific and practical. It requires systematic planning based on the relevant theoretical system, and then it is implemented step by step. The former focuses on its scientificity and rationality. It has a global guiding role. The latter focuses on the accumulation of practice and experience, which is the guarantee of implementation. Both are indispensable. The idea of eating a fat person is unscientific and will definitely receive a painful lesson. "

Ninth, consider people, processes and technology simultaneously

The design of the R & D system is not a copy of the achievements. What is more important is that it is suitable for your own business model, personnel capacity, resource scale and technical strength. Departure from reality and blind imitation of advanced will inevitably lead to failure.

[Canada] Robert G. Cooper-a world-class expert in the field of new R & D management, the founder of door management theory;

[USA] Michael E. McGrath-the author of the PACE system and the founder of PRTM;

United States

The first research and development task of the company comes from the research and development task issued by the head office on the one hand, and on the other hand the source company determines the research and development task for competition needs.

Article 2 The company's research and development is to seek the best research and development content and methods on the premise of balancing internal resource conditions and external market conditions, in order to obtain the maximum economic benefits.

Article 3 The company's R & D position is to enhance the company's core competitiveness. On the one hand, through the product platform strategy to support the expansion of the company's existing business in traditional markets, forming an absolute advantage in the market position; on the other hand, through the development of new products, the company's competition for strategic markets and the research and development of markets with huge potential are promoted. Form a new profit growth point for the company.

Article 4 The research and development of the company follows the principle of extensive open cooperation based on independent research and development. Under the premise of establishing the company's own brand and owning the company's independent property rights, it will take advantage of all available power at home and abroad to adopt a combination of independent research and development, system integration, OEM, technology purchase, and corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Article 5 The company's research and development system includes three closely related subsystems, namely the product development strategic planning and research system, technology research and development and product research and development systems, and product intermediate test systems.
(1) Product development strategic planning and research system The product development strategic planning and research system is composed of the party committee / manager's office, technical committee, etc., and is responsible for formulating the company's technology and product research and development medium- and long-term development strategy as a guide for company research and development.
(2) The technology R & D and product R & D system is mainly composed of R & D personnel and management personnel from research and development centers, production technology departments and other departments, responsible for the implementation of technology R & D and product R & D.
(3) The product intermediate test system is mainly composed of production technology department, production one or two department, research and development center research and development personnel and management personnel. Responsible for intermediate test and safety test of product samples.

Article 6 The company attaches importance to cultivating a team of high-quality, team-oriented R & D engineers and R & D managers, and attaches importance to the discovery and cultivation of strategic R & D management talents and international R & D talents.

The demand analysis process is to systematically and quantitatively analyze the various elements that will be involved in the new product development process before the start of new product research and development, so that subsequent research and development processes are in the control process of pre-development element design. During the demand analysis process, the following elements are mainly analyzed:

Market demand feasibility analysis;

Analysis of key technology requirements;

Development environmental needs analysis;

The design process is based on the definition of the elements of the requirements analysis under the condition of project startup. It aims to establish a standardized R & D design process, clarify the professional and technical division of labor, determine the scope and elements of design considerations, and eliminate confusion and R & D problems Problems such as hiding and passing backwards. During the design process, the following process design is mainly carried out:

The simulation verification process is based on the completion of the design process. In order to fully ensure the correctness of the design,

Because IT product design contains a large number of designers' understanding of product functional requirements and processing ideas, and these understandings and implementations are closely dependent on the designer's personal knowledge background, professional fields and personal capabilities, so it is bound to There are a lot of errors and imperfections in the design and implementation of product functions.

In addition, a large number of design tools are also used in the design. The designer is not facing a product, but a design platform composed of a set of tools. The designer issues corresponding commands according to the functions of the tools and is completed by the tools. Implementation of the command. Because the tool implementation process is considered by the tool designer based on the general situation, it is a "black box" operation process for the product designer, so there must be a difference between the tool designer's thinking and the product designer's thinking and understanding, especially Some of the less important properties or elements are particularly prominent. This is the side effect of tools often talked about in the IT industry.

Therefore, establishing a product development environment is an important part of IT product research and development.

For the development of IT products, the test environment has a very special status. From the perspective of research and development of IT industries in developed countries,

Product configuration is the guarantee of successful product development.

The definition of the new product development process configuration is to define the milestones of the new product development process from an engineering perspective.

(1) Design verification environment: system function simulation, hardware design operation (sequence) simulation, software function simulation;

(2) Development verification environment: hardware test, software test, comprehensive software and hardware test;

(3) System verification environment: comprehensive test environment with various environments, models, and products of various manufacturers;

(4) Routine test environment: temperature, vibration, field strength, electromagnetic interference test, etc.

The R & D management method is, in layman's terms: tell people when to do something, and learn to do things well. The three key indicators for measuring the pros and cons of R & D management are: quality, time and cost. People always want to do well (ie high quality), do it fast (ie less time) and spend less (ie low cost). If it is difficult to have both of them at the same time, then the decision maker must understand the complex relationship between quality, time, and cost, make heavy judgments, and give optimization and compromise measures.

1 "Double post system"

The "dual post system" is a solution proposed by many scientific research enterprises in China for the loss of intellectual property caused by the movement of people. The so-called "dual post system" is to set up two posts at important positions in the research and development process, complete the same work, and back up each other. The main problems brought by the "dual post system" are:

First, because important posts use two sets of horses and two sets of equipment to complete the same work, human resources and equipment resources are wasted;

Second, if the results of the two sets of horses are inconsistent, it will increase the confirmation cost;

Third, because there are many links in the research and development process, such as the development process: design, simulation, debugging, and testing; the development stage: principle parts, engineering parts, technological parts, experimental parts, trial initial parts, etc. The version must pass all links of the verification process, which will greatly increase the development cost, development cycle and waste of resources.

Since the development cost and development cycle of each "dual post system" almost doubled, so if there are multiple "dual post" positions in the product development process, the entire development cost and development cycle will form an explosive combination increase. .

2 "The important part is broken down by multiple people"

"The important part is assumed by multiple people." This is another solution put forward by many scientific research companies in China for the loss of intellectual property caused by the movement of people. The so-called "important part is broken down by multiple people" is the decomposition of important parts and links in the research and development process, which are jointly undertaken and completed by multiple people. "The important part is broken down by multiple people. The main problems that come with it are:

First, if important parts and links are decomposed, it will increase the internal communication overhead and collaboration cost of the system;

Second, if the principle of important work is undertaken by important people, if important personnel no longer undertake other important tasks, it will cause waste of human resources; if important personnel also undertake other important tasks, , Which will cause the loss of intellectual property rights for multiple important tasks, which will have greater impact and impact;

Third, due to the many links in the research and development process, the decomposition of important tasks and the participation of multiple personnel will greatly increase the cost of research and development and the development cycle.

3 "Reporter-style" R & D

Accepted themes: Initiate and accept projects according to the requirements of superior leaders

Interview material: Self-search and define market demand

Self-induction: Self-induction and verification system function requirements

Free play: the realization of independent and complete functions

Finalize yourself: define your own testing and acceptance criteria

The main problems of the "reporter-style" R & D management method are as follows: first, the individual is the main body, from receiving tasks (accepting topics), collecting requirements (interview materials), defining functions (self-induction), independent research (free play), self-testing (Original draft) To the task delivery, the entire research and development process is completed by individuals, which is limited by personal cognitive ability. Especially in today's knowledge economy society, knowledge explosion, professional division of labor and integrated technology are the main characteristics of the knowledge economy, so personal cognitive ability is far from meeting the needs of society;

Second, due to the limitations of individual professional division of labor, the "reporter-style" R & D management method often only highlights the application of the individual's professional field and ignores the effective intervention of other professional fields; for example: hardware engineers only highlight the effectiveness of hardware design , Neglecting professional applications such as system design, simulation analysis, software design, hardware testing, software testing, system integration, etc .;

Third, self-defined testing and acceptance standards belong to their own legislation and their own enforcement, which is contrary to the basic principles of quality control and final confirmation of R & D products.

Fourth, "reporter-style" R & D management methods will cause intellectual property to fall into personal control.

4 "level-by-level" R & D management method

Theme selection decision: superior leadership

System function determination: determined by the individual's ability and understanding

Development status control: the project team is independent

Result test confirmation: Custom test and acceptance criteria

The main problems of the "level-by-level" R & D management method are

First, take responsibility transfer as the main line of the R & D control process, and take the task book as the goal of completing the R & D task, ignoring the control and inspection of the R & D process and R & D status node;

Secondly, it is difficult for the letter of responsibility and task statement to fully reflect the market requirements and product function definitions. The market demand and product function definitions are left to the task group for completion, which is limited by the task group's cognitive ability, and it is difficult to reflect the integration of multi-professional systems and enterprises The effective play of the overall level has caused decoupling of product development goals from market demand;

Third, each task group uses the task book as the R & D task to complete the goal, and the responsibility book as the delivery status, which is their own policy, which makes the technical coordination and system integration between the task groups more difficult, and it is difficult to effectively achieve the overall system goals;

Fourth, each task group defines its own testing and acceptance standards according to the letter of responsibility and the task letter, which not only results in its own legislation, its state of law enforcement, but also violates the basic principles of quality control and final confirmation of R & D products. Task groups have different perspectives and cognitive abilities. It is difficult to unify the custom test and acceptance standards to form a unified test and acceptance standard.

5 "Little Furnace-style" R & D methods

Self-centered: self-centered, unwilling to cooperate easily with others

Self-closing: Full technical status of the project with its own technical capabilities

Self-development: self-closed development, unwilling to let others know and make suggestions

The main problems of the "small furnace craftsmanship" R & D management method are:

First, it is easy to be individual-centered, and the individual's cognitive ability determines the technical status of the project;

Second, self-closed development, unwilling to adopt mature technologies and new technologies other than their own cognitive abilities, starting from the bottom and repeating at a low level;

Third, the lack of standardized design increases the ambiguity of product technology implementation, making it difficult to maintain and upgrade the product;

Fourth, intellectual property rights are in the hands of individuals, which can easily lead to the loss of intellectual property rights.

Common methods of R & D management

PACE method

As early as 1986, the PRTM company in the United States created the PACE (Product And Cycle-time Excellence) methodology. The elements that PACE focuses on are: correct decision making, project team composition, development activity structure, development tools and technologies, product strategy, technology management, and resource management. PACE is the originator of methodology in the field of product lifecycle management. After the birth of PACE , many companies and academic institutions have continuously proposed research and development management methodologies suitable for their industry.

ISO9000 family quality system

In order to meet the needs of quality assurance activities in international economic exchanges, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released the ISO 9000 quality management and quality assurance standard series in 1987 after summarizing the experience of quality assurance systems in various countries and after nearly ten years of work . The first revision was made in 1994, forming the ISO 9000 family of standards. In 2000, major revisions were made, and a new ISO 9000 standard (version 2000) was released.

CMM / CMMI

In November 1986, the US federal government commissioned the Carnegie-Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) to develop a methodology for assessing the capabilities of software contractors. SEI released a software process maturity framework and a maturity questionnaire in September 1987. In 1991, SEI developed the Software Process Maturity Framework into a Software Capacity Maturity Model (CMM), and CMM 1.0 was born.

PMBOK

The project management knowledge system is a general term for project management expertise. It was proposed by the American Project Management Association (PMI) in the 1980s to summarize mature theories, methods, tools, and technologies in project management practice. After several revisions, the current version is PMBOK2004.

PMBOK defines 44 basic project management processes, and gives a detailed description of the project management process from the perspective of process inputs, outputs, and tools and techniques used. These 44 project management processes basically cover the basic management processes in project management practice. However, these project management processes must be combined with product realization processes to complete the entire project activity.

Agile development

RUP

Problems often encountered by enterprises in R & D management

Lack of clear R & D strategy because there is no target and direction.

The position of R & D in the company is not clear, it cannot effectively integrate limited R & D resources, and it is impossible to exert the value of R & D in the enterprise.

(3) The acquisition of R & D demand information is relatively passive and lacks in-depth investigation and analysis of the company's internal and external needs.

After the preliminary list of R & D needs is formed, there is also a lack of corresponding mechanisms for screening and screening to form the final R & D

Topic.

The organization of R & D work is unreasonable and lacks overall planning.

In the formulation of the project, the project members did not have clear and reasonable responsibilities and rights. The cooperation and coordination of the project was basically driven by R & D personnel, and other members and departments were only passively involved.

R & D basic summary work is done very little, the knowledge management system is not perfect, the ideas and results of R & D and technology are personal, not the company, which undermines the continuity of R & D.

There is no relevant institution and system to supervise and control the operation of the project, the project has a large risk, and the project review mechanism is lack of scientific assessment and analysis of the project.

Lack of R & D professionals.

Avoid five misunderstandings of enterprises in R & D management

One of the misunderstandings: R & D management is a matter for the R & D department.

Misunderstanding 2: R & D management reform should be immediate

Myth 3: IPD is the only option for R & D management

Myth 4: IPD is an integral part of CMMI

Myth No. 5: SMEs do not need R & D management.

How SMEs Implement Effective R & D Management

Representatives of the current industry's outstanding R & D management practices are the Integrated Product Development (IPD) advocated by IBM and the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) of the US SEI. The two major R & D management systems are mutually supportive. The combination of the two can help companies improve at the macro level such as concept awareness, strategic level, and operation framework, and also help companies land at the micro level such as specific implementation and operation guidance.

At present, China is vigorously improving the industrial structure and encouraging independent innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises. According to the speaker's years of R & D management practice and consulting experience, domestic SMEs generally have the following main problems in R & D management:

¨ Relatively speaking, the senior management of small and medium enterprises have a more accurate grasp of the market direction;

¨ The business direction / model of the enterprise is relatively single, but it is gradually extending the product area and providing more service forms;

¨ The company's sales scale, personnel scale, especially the number of R & D personnel, and the size of the organization have expanded rapidly with business expansion;

¨ Enterprise's market ability / sales ability is generally strong, but internal R & D often cannot keep up with the speed of the business, leading to more delays in R & D projects;

¨ Some senior leaders with non-technical background believe that R & D is often out of control because they do not know how to participate in R & D;

¨ Due to the expansion of the company's business scale / the number of R & D employees, the construction of the organization can't keep up with the speed. In particular, it has introduced a lot of personnel, but the company's efficiency has not improved, but it is not as good as the initial stage of the business;

¨ The success of new product development is almost unpredictable, and it depends to a large extent on the "best people, capable people, and experts" in the R & D team; but the growth rate of talents with this ability cannot keep up with more and more new development tasks Quantity.

¨ Introduced some experienced employees from the outside, but integration became difficult; almost everyone worked on their own experience, and many problems were caused by irregular cooperation between product development members, especially among different functional departments Cooperation (such as R & D and marketing / business, production, procurement, etc.);

¨ The company has not been established for a short time, but it is not able to accumulate effective experience at the organizational level; the growth of employees depends entirely on obtaining lessons from constant mistakes;

¨ The expansion of the company's scale and deeper management level have led to the weakening of employee initiative due to organizational reasons.

Faced with these management system models proposed by internationally outstanding R & D enterprises and organizations, can our small and medium-sized enterprises adopt "Bring Doctrine" to help them improve themselves? The answer is yes. However, the following principles must be followed:

¨ In the construction of the R & D management system, based on the development stage of the enterprise, "overall planning and step-by-step implementation" should be carried out, which not only solves the short-term problems, but also lays a good foundation for the enterprise to go higher in the future.

¨ Seize important and urgent improvement points, grasp the improvement point with the highest input-output ratio in the development stage of the enterprise, carry out the construction of R & D management system, and provide momentum for the sustainable growth of technology in growing enterprises.

¨ In the process from the non-standardization to the standardization of the enterprise's R & D system, it is necessary to consolidate the infrastructure construction work in order to provide the basic guarantee for the sustainable growth of the enterprise in the changing market environment.

¨ R & D infrastructure must be comprehensive and systematic, and there must be no shortcomings.

¨ The construction of the R & D system will be based on the product development process, and the improvements cannot be discrete and independent.

Therefore, the speaker proposed an early improvement model for SMEs on the road to enhance their R & D management capabilities:

Elements of R & D Management

1. R & D strategy and business decision

2. R & D organization operation

3. Product Development Process

4. R & D project management

5. R & D human resource management

6. Customer needs

7. Systems Engineering

8. Technology development

9. R & D IT Support

10. Skill Management

R & D management management goals

A systematic and standardized method is in operation for all key tasks and quality management required to complete product development, and the focus is on error-prone steps.

For major decisions such as whether a research and development project is to be started or to be terminated, there is a set of very precise evaluation criteria and a decision-making model for prioritization, so that managers can make decisions in time.

Simultaneous activities (simultaneous engineering) to speed up product development.

For cross-departmental communication, there is a good set of power and responsibility divisions and coordination mechanisms.

Strong market orientation. At the beginning of R & D activities, customers and suppliers are invited to participate fully.

The planning and preparation of the entire project has been completed before the start of R & D activities.

Recommended by R & D management agency

There are not many companies specializing in R & D management consulting in the world. Foreign professional institutions include PRTM and IBM. Domestic professional institutions are only a few such as Zhongtian Huaxia and Hanjie.