Classification of R&D projects and selection of R&D project management concept

Abstract

Currently, the dispersion and variety of both research and development (R&D) project management methods and their taxonomies pose difficulties in the selection of a management concept suitable for a particular type of R&D project. The paper attempts to assign a specified management concept to a given R&D project type. An in‐depth analysis of the literature was done, and dispersed information on the R&D project management were systemised and linked. More detailed classifications of R&D projects and agile project management (APM) methods were proposed. The paper as a result presents a new typology of R&D projects and a proposal of assignment of project management methods to individual types of R&D projects. Moreover, a case study of an R&D project is presented with outlining the major problems concerning its implementation, resulting, inter alia, from the selection of an inappropriate management concept made at the stage of project planning and application for funding. The authors also carried out an empirical research aimed at the confirmation of conclusions drawn from the relevant literature and the investigated case study. The main result of the paper is the assignment of different project management concepts to certain R&D project types as well as the distinction of two types of APM concepts. The final conclusion of the article is that most types of R&D projects, identified using the criterion of the degree of knowledge of their goals and methods of their implementation, should be managed by a customised concept of APM. It is, however, essential that one matches different types of Agile methods with different types of R&D project.