R&D AND ENGINEERING PROJECTS DEPARTMENT

This department addresses the myriad challenges pertaining to management of R&D and engineering projects and programs. Project and program management represent a fundamental and ongoing challenge for engineering managers; indeed, it is a distinct and high profile career path for many engineers. The challenges for effective project management within R&D and engineering projects are great and diverse. Such projects often have unclear or even shifting goals, leading to significant challenges in scheduling and resource management. They may demonstrate no obvious or immediate returns on investment, particularly in R&D projects. They require the commitment, motivation, and leadership of individuals who are often expected to work on multiple projects at the same time. At a higher, program management level, we are expected to successfully coordinate work across multiple projects, some just beginning, others moving through different stages of development, and still others in completion or transition stages. Underlying this challenge is the unique environment of project-based work, one that requires simultaneous mastery of a diverse set of people and technical challenges.

In recent years, there has been something of a sea-change in this field; we have begun to see a movement away from “project management” to a more inclusive “management of projects” philosophy (to coin Peter Morris’s term). The distinction here is no mere rhetorical turn of phrase, but instead represents an alternative method for viewing projects. The management of projects recognizes that while traditional project management techniques of scheduling, resource assignment, and control are still important, they must be considered as part of the larger challenge in successful projects. Research over the past two decades has demonstrated clearly the importance that client and stakeholder issues and technology management play in project success. What is required is that we broaden our focus to consider the management of external and front-end issues, including technology, design and testing, supply chain and procurement, and project stakeholders. Project management remains a unique people/technology challenge but these challenges arise in the same degree from external sources as from within the traditional, internal project setting.

The result of this fundamental reconfiguration of project management is to change the way we look at the discipline. No longer can the focus be exclusively on the processes and practices needed to deliver R&D and Engineering projects to scope, in budget, on schedule but rather how do we set up and define the project to deliver stakeholder success – on how to manage projects. Thus, the management of projects introduces a number of new areas of significance for both practitioners in the engineering fields and researchers, including:

• Strategy, portfolio and program management – The relationship between an organization’s strategy and its project and program portfolio management priorities and processes

• Project and program definition and selection – Techniques for effective screening and selection

• Technology (requirements, design, testing) management – The management of requirements, configuration, design, and testing as a prelude to effective project/program management

• Supply chain management and procurement – Understanding and managing supplier/customer relationships and procurement strategies

• Control – Accurate project status assessment and methods for administering corrective action

• Competence development – Understanding the competencies required of engineering managers in performing project-based work

It is the objective of this department to provide a forum for the dissemination of information on these and other related issues in R&D and engineering project management. I would encourage all potential contributors to seriously consider both the theoretical and practical application of their work – to broaden their focus in reporting their conclusions, just as this department hopes they will broaden their conceptualization of the management of projects. Papers addressing traditional issues of project management and pertaining to concerns arising during the conceptualization, planning, execution and control, and termination phases of a project continue to be valuable. Additionally, however, this department will seriously consider other, perhaps non-traditional perspectives on R&D and engineering project management that more closely mirror a “management of projects” perspective. Both theoretical and empirical work on these topics will be encouraged.

R&D and Engineering project management is an exciting and increasingly important aspect of the engineer’s career. Here at the TRANSACTIONS, we are provided with a unique opportunity to explore the cutting edge in research and theory relating to a field that will continue to grow in years to come.

JEFFREY PINTO

Department Editor