I'm curious if anyone has any good materials to share regarding the management of R&D projects (both successes and cautionary tales, big companies and small).
I read The Soul of a New Machine in 1982 and thought I was late to the technology party... little did I know how much that book impacted my life. I hope you enjoy it.
If you lead any kind of team in IT it is required reading. It will make you a bit sad though: it was written in 1987 presenting common problems and solutions to said problems. We're still struggling to get the solutions implemented today.
Thanks. I suppose I'm after more materials related to projects with a science/research element where outcomes are perhaps more loosely defined than for a typical software project. I haven't read this, however, and it is definitely relevant so it's going on the list.
Great question, I've taken some of these books down to read later.
I was fascinated by The Pentagon Wars [0]. Arguably US Military is one of the biggest bureaucracies that spends tons of money on R&D projects. Apart from describing the issues with the projects themselves, the author describes how structuring the incentives could potentially pervert the process of developing new tech. I really loved it.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 57.2 ms ] threadhttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/skunk-works-leo-janos/11247...
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/soul-of-a-new-machine-tracy...
If you lead any kind of team in IT it is required reading. It will make you a bit sad though: it was written in 1987 presenting common problems and solutions to said problems. We're still struggling to get the solutions implemented today.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67825.Peopleware
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11797471-the-idea-factor...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/530415.The_Art_of_Doing_...
I was fascinated by The Pentagon Wars [0]. Arguably US Military is one of the biggest bureaucracies that spends tons of money on R&D projects. Apart from describing the issues with the projects themselves, the author describes how structuring the incentives could potentially pervert the process of developing new tech. I really loved it.
[0]: https://www.amazon.com/Pentagon-Wars-Reformers-Challenge-Gua...
Of course, I am slowly working on the writing phase.
Hit me up by email if you would like to pick over the outline.