If you work in product R&D, you know that innovation is not a linear process. Sometimes, you have to revisit past projects, learn from your failures, and leverage your successes to create better products. In this article, we'll show you how to use past R&D projects to improve current products, and why it's important to keep track of your R&D history.
One of the best ways to use past R&D projects to improve current products is to review them regularly. This means analyzing the data, feedback, and outcomes of your previous experiments, prototypes, and launches. By doing this, you can identify what worked well, what didn't, and what can be improved or reused. You can also spot trends, gaps, and opportunities in the market, and align your R&D goals with customer needs and expectations.
Past projects of future value with have objective, results, data summary, key learnings (good & bad) and equipment (if process) or raw material (if product) changes listed.
In the flavor world, the phrase "why reinvent the wheel" is often thrown around. Utilizing past project work, learnings and developments is essential with many of the fast-paced turnaround times expected. Oftentimes, one can use an older, well-established/proven development as a starting point and modify it accordingly to meet new project parameters, criteria, regulatory requirements, etc.
Regular Project Review: A key strategy for using past R&D projects to enhance current products. Data and Feedback Analysis: Involves thorough examination of data, feedback, and outcomes from prior experiments, prototypes, and launches. Identifying Successes and Shortcomings: Crucial for recognizing what worked well, what didn't, and areas ripe for improvement or repurposing. Trend Spotting: Helps in identifying evolving market trends, gaps, and opportunities. Customer-Centric Approach: Ensures alignment of R&D goals with customer needs and expectations. Data-Driven Decision-Making: Empowers evidence-based decision-making for ongoing product enhancement. Enhancing Competitiveness: Using insights from past projects to stay competitive
It is important to regularly look back at past projects,whether they succeeded or halted.This proactive approach not only helps us identify gaps but also guides our future plans. One key lesson learned is the necessity of robust project documentation.Analyzing the halted projects revealed that redirection rather than failure is sometimes the outcome.This redirection aligns with evolving customer needs and ensures compliances with regulatory requirements especially in medical device industry.A periodic review cultivates a culture of continuous improvement, positioning teams to navigate the evolving R&D landscape with agility.Regular reviews are not just a retrospective exercise but a strategic imperative for sustained success.
In the realm of each research and development project, it is imperative to acknowledge that every implemented strategy inherently entails a series of challenges and benefits. The human element within these teams plays a pivotal role, exerting a significant influence from the level of engagement to individual capacity, thereby shaping the various critical stages of the project. While the repeated emulation of successful strategies may be feasible, the human variable emerges as a decisive factor when scaling these approaches.
Another way to use past R&D projects to improve current products is to apply the lessons learned to your current development process. This means using the insights, best practices, and feedback from your past projects to inform your design, testing, and iteration decisions. For example, you can use past R&D projects to validate your assumptions, refine your features, optimize your performance, and enhance your user experience. You can also use past R&D projects to avoid repeating the same mistakes, wasting resources, or missing deadlines.
Applying Lessons Learned: A strategic approach to using past R&D projects to improve current products. Insights, Best Practices, and Feedback: Involves leveraging insights, best practices, and feedback garnered from past projects. Informed Decision-Making: Utilizing these insights to inform design, testing, and iteration decisions in current product development. Validating Assumptions: Past R&D projects serve as validation tools for assumptions. Feature Refinement: Insights help in refining product features. Performance Optimization: Lessons learned contribute to optimizing product performance. Enhanced User Experience: Feedback informs enhancements to the user experience.
A third way to use past R&D projects to improve current products is to build on your past successes and failures. This means using the knowledge, skills, and assets from your past projects to create new value and innovation for your current products. For example, you can use past R&D projects to leverage existing technologies, platforms, or partnerships, or to explore new possibilities, markets, or segments. You can also use past R&D projects to challenge yourself, experiment with new ideas, or pivot to new directions.
Building on Past Achievements: A strategic approach to using past R&D projects to enhance current products. Leveraging Knowledge, Skills, and Assets: Involves tapping into the knowledge, skills, and assets acquired from past projects. Creating New Value and Innovation: Using these resources to create fresh value and drive innovation in current products. Utilizing Existing Technologies: Leveraging existing technologies, platforms, or partnerships from past projects. Exploring New Possibilities: Expanding into new markets, segments, or possibilities based on past experiences. Challenging the Status Quo: Encouraging experimentation, fresh ideas, and the exploration of new directions.
A final way to use past R&D projects to improve current products is to document and archive them. This means keeping a record of your past R&D activities, results, and learnings, and storing them in an accessible and organized way. By doing this, you can create a valuable repository of R&D knowledge and experience that you can refer to, share, and update whenever you need. You can also use documentation and archiving tools, such as project management software, databases, or cloud services, to make your R&D history more efficient and secure.
Using past R&D projects to improve current products is not only a smart strategy, but also a rewarding practice. It can help you enhance your product quality, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage. It can also help you foster a culture of learning, improvement, and innovation in your R&D team.
Document and Archive Past R&D Projects: A strategic approach to utilizing past R&D projects for current product enhancement. Record of Activities, Results, and Learnings: Involves maintaining a comprehensive record of past R&D endeavors, including activities, outcomes, and lessons learned. Accessible and Organized Repository: Storing this information in an accessible and organized manner, ensuring easy retrieval and reference. Knowledge and Experience Repository: Creating a repository of R&D knowledge and experience to refer to, share, and update. Documentation Tools: Utilizing documentation and archiving tools such as project management software, databases, or cloud services.
Nothing accelerates imposter syndrome like a career in R&D. If you think you don’t know enough about your profession now, then think twice about subjecting yourself to years of overly ambitious (by their very nature) projects. Successful projects are exciting and difficult projects bring out the worst in people. Judge an R&D environment not just by looking at its successful projects, but also by how it responds to difficult or even failed projects.
In my experience, I'd use past R&D projects when those projects have similar functions with current projects. Document and archive is a must but deep understanding of the projects come first. It will be less helpful when you have your archives but you don't really know what those projects are about.
Isn't that how design philosophy and wisdom is built? We come up with a novel concept to either increase capability or capacity, then from that suffering we learn something and continuously improve upon it until we get metrics that suit our end goals. We build deeper understanding and increase confidence levels in our test methods as we go. Eventually something market viable comes out of it with enough steam, sweat, and tears. This is the way.