Specialist Project Management for Research

We understand that Project Management is necessarily a distinct activity from Business Management. One is concerned with executing regular business activity in an effective, sustained manner, and the other is concerned with completing projects that have a beginning, a middle and (hopefully) an end. One of these tries to maintain and improve an activity indefinitely, the other tries to bring an activity to a close, hopefully before the deadline and within budget. Although it isn't explicit in the title, excellent Project Management is nothing without excellent Project Leadership as well.

Are there different kinds of Project Management? Yes. Every kind of project whether it be building construction, transport, oil & gas, power generation, resources, or smaller projects like product development, launching a new business or publishing a book each requires a unique kind of project management and leadership.

Here's one that not many people have heard of: Research Project Management. This is an important one not to miss. Project managers who are very good at the other kinds of projects in which the final product is a physical object, a road, bridge, office tower, power plant, uranium mine or latest model automobile, often have difficulty adapting to research where the final product is knowledge.

Research Project Management is a unique discipline compared to the rest. It requires specialized training that other kinds of management or even project management do not receive. It also requires more experience, general knowledge, technical knowledge, insight and communication skills.

Symptoms of a failing R&D project include lack of progress, an endless chain of failed prototypes, vague direction, unexpected setbacks, a poorly understood technology, a frustrated technical team, or an inventor who keeps heading off in new directions.

If you detect any signs of weakness in an R&D project, it may be because the right kind of project management is not involved. The solution does not necessarily require a complete change in leadership, but more often needs only advisement input from someone with the right experience in Research Project Management.