5. Managing R&D activities

Tracking tools are useful in R&D, because intellectual production is difficult to plan in advance. It is not easy to anticipate when new knowledge will be acquired and mastered. This observation reinforces the idea of tracking the progress of knowledge production. You will set up a management system to :

• project start-up ;

• follow-up ;

• communication ;

• the results of each project.

Each project is the subject of a launch document which sets out the management's framework. Its content is identical to that of the Stage 1 project sheet. It records management decisions.

You'll also develop a system for tracking the progress of each project using a Gantt-type model. Include intermediate...