R&D Division
R&D division is the business back that is supporting its operations. For a leading companies, it is the core gear - in the middle - that operates the other gears. How much size this gear relative to the others?
Top U.S. companies for R&D spending
For example, here are an initial functions/roles for a R&D division for a software industry:
- Improving the code-quality of the delivery.
- Playing the HUP / Aggregator role by creating a profile for each project. The profile is listing the technologies, challenges, solutions, not-solved problems, advantages, disadvantages and the potential technical reusable components.
- Developing a programming guides or rules for following the best-practices or increasing productivity (e.g. LINQ, C#, MVC, Typescript, using Re-sharper,..). So, as much as possible all projects have the same theme, so if a resource developer is going to be changed / shifted, he left a code that is following the guide and joining a code that is also following the guide.
- Developing a design & architecture guides (e.g. N-Tier, DDD, SOA, ..) so the R&D has a ready-made skeletons for those architecture types that are following the best practices with overcomed-challenges and customized for the needed quality attributes ( Maintainability, Testability, Security, Availability, Reliability, Performance, ..).
- Developing a reusable components that have the most potential ( needed by current projects, needed for the upcoming projects, the trend of the market,..), so eventually it is founding an internal repository.
- Writing a Technical / Business articles.
- Developing an Open Source Code projects and frameworks.
Results
Think about it as accelerator. So, it will short effort, time and so the cost. Eliminate the wasting in code-review, rework, refactor, re-investigation, re-inventing wheel and any other re-.
It is part of figuring the company and building its image and personality.
It's sad !
Always there is a missing shortcut to eliminate the always waste. The always observation and criticism will clear it up. Some time there are much treasure surrounding us witch are not invested.