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Antonio Robateau

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Compartmentalized R&D vs. Broad Cross-Functional R&D

Today's large corporations have become so sophisticated in their approach to research and development of products, services and solutions that what used to be done by one or few people now requires many departments - each specializing in a tiny piece of the process. Today, the person who comes up with an idea is not the person who has to consider funding it... is not the person who designs it... is not the person who makes it... is not the person who deploys it... is not the person who has to convince people to use it... is not the person who has to use it... is not the person who has to maintain it or get rid of it. Those completing their work get immediately compensated not caring thereafter whether it eventually succeeds or not, and each receiving the work would say, "Why am I doing this? I would have done this differently!".

Today's segregation of duties promises better efficiencies and quality and even punishes do-it-alls for overstepping their immediate job descriptions.

But considering this talk where the original idea was run 'through the mill' completely first, which is the RIGHT way?

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  • John Smith 30+

    • 0
    Sep 17 2012: "Compartmentalized R&D vs. Broad Cross-Functional R&D"

    The subject is so incredibly broad that there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It just depends on the situation.

  • Antonio Robateau

    • 0
    Sep 17 2012: So, true!! Even I did not make that connection although I try to be cross-disciplined. Profit has replaced morality in many cases so that what is right is not what benefits others but what benefits oneself.

    I ended my formal college education after realizing that I was learning more of what was personally relevant on my own through practical self-paced study than by compartmentalized and often disconnected classes that would take 4 years before every applying anything in the real world.

    Now I see where one study fails to explain something, another picks up, and yet they use different terminology and approaches for essentially the same things.

    Music is Math, Biology is Chemistry is Physics, and everything (today) is Computer Science. And all is nothing without Ethics.
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    Gail . 50+

    • +1
    Sep 13 2012: What you talk about is also a parallel to our educational systems. We who are so-called "educated" know more and more about less and less, so that no one is ever sufficiently educated to be able to connect the dots. It's intentional because it's profitable.

    I am no longer a capitalist.
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