Research and development is a fundamental part of most industries; helping businesses to drive innovation, improve existing products and services, maintain a competitive advantage and explore new markets and opportunities. The list goes on. What makes it really exciting – and always challenging – is that the very nature of R&D partnership projects means you can’t ever know the answers with certainty. A project is an exploration and journey so there will be surprises, new information and factors to consider along the way.

The ability to be agile and flexible, therefore, is essential for projects to run smoothly and produce a successful product or service at the end. As this article will explore, the best R&D projects come from teams that work well together as the project develops, who know how and when to change direction, and adapt when different skills and resources might be needed.

By contrast, an under-performing team can jeopardise both current work and future funding opportunities.

With that in mind, drawing on Calvium’s own experience I wanted to take a look at some of the common challenges that can arise from R&D consortium projects and how to turn them into opportunities to boost project success.

Moving goalposts

As mentioned, due to the nature of R&D and changing business environments, there will inevitably be changes to the brief and priorities over time. Results from research phases can change the course of direction too.

Designing product features with flexibility in mind, and testing and improving at every stage, helps to ensure the end product can withstand potential changes and challenges during the project’s development. 

It is really important to acknowledge when challenges arise and figure out workable solutions. There have – unsurprisingly given the vast quantities of data involved – been some challenges to overcome during the Envirocrops project we have been working on. However, the project’s iterative approach has allowed us to solve them quickly and with minimal disruption to the project timeline.

In these instances, taking a pragmatic, process-focused approach and being willing to embrace change is key; it helps to keep things moving and ensures no one, on either project team, panics. Flapping is probably the least helpful or productive thing you can do!

Changing skillsets and teams

With moving goalposts often comes the need for new skillsets, partners and teams. Having a diverse range of skills to draw from in the first place is, of course, a big advantage. But having a productive attitude, culture of upskilling and knowing where/when to plug skills gaps can go a long way too. It is about seizing opportunities to learn and develop along the way.

Another challenge that can emerge is that of changing roles, responsibilities and people. Project teams will inevitably evolve, especially over a multi-year project where partners can be called away, temporarily or permanently. Additionally, different partners are usually needed at different stages of a project. 

Managing all those challenges without disrupting the project flow can be tricky. In these cases, it helps if an existing project partner can take up the mantle. Onboarding and contracting processes are faster, the need for extra resources is reduced and trusted relationships are already in place.

Ultimately, it benefits everyone if the project partner is primed for change in a programme team’s evolution, and has diverse skills to contribute.

Project management

As projects evolve, scope can creep and may require project resources to be protected from deviation. Having robust internal project management processes and skills in place contributes to the smooth running of consortium projects. As standard process, we have a weekly project clinic to support communication, bringing everyone together to work on issues encountered – which is especially valuable when you have a dispersed workforce, nationally or internationally.

When we worked on Project What If for We The Curious, there were many partners involved, all working across different disciplines and countries and bringing many logistical challenges. This inevitably called for lots of flexibility; agreeing how to work in an efficient, transparent and mutually supportive way, from the outset, was essential to making this work.

Successful flexibility is often enabled through the support of strong, underpinning processes. ISO and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation, for example, requires companies to be process-focused, with guides, tools and processes to support project managers on how to run things effectively and compliantly.  We have found these accreditations beneficial not only for us, but also for consortia funders and partners, as they bring an extra level of security, documentation and reassurance. 

Technical considerations

In parallel to the communication, skills and flexibility considerations in the human programme team, the digital technologies of multiple partners have similar factors needing support and management. For example, whatever the preferred digital platform or software – Google Workspace, Zoom, Teams, JIRA, Gitlab, etc – slotting in with existing work processes and sharing digital platforms across the team is necessary to enable coherent operations. 

As development commences, technical challenges can also occur, or changes in demands on functionality. Technology is of course evolving all the time, so it is important to stay up to date with new updates, products, rules and regulations. 

Peer learning is a great way to upskill teams quickly and share understanding. Calvium has regular ‘tech talks’ where the development team can learn from each other – these often inform our project approaches and uncover where we can enhance project innovation. Being flexible means being open to learning as you go.

A programme team that is technologically open-minded and adaptable, willing to be flexible, and brings the latest thinking and practice to the project are set for success.

Proving value

Large consortium projects are often scrutinised and must prove value for money to multiple stakeholders. Having robust documentation throughout the project, therefore, is fundamental – both for justifying spend to funders and for security purposes.

For a project partner like Calvium, providing clients with resources including documentation, videos of functionality, analytics data, and live demos to show the progress of investments, etc, helps them to deliver greater transparency to funders. This is important for a variety of reasons: for achieving project goals, innovating in the subject area, supporting net zero targets, proving a concept and demonstrating commercial success. All of these deliverables help to demonstrate value to funders, which is fundamental for securing future funding for research and innovation.

Consortium culture

It probably goes without saying that having a strong team culture is conducive to making multi-agency projects a success. From the start, getting the right people in the room sharing the same values, goals and care for the work, means you are much more likely to create the best, most meaningful work.

A love of learning, care for the planet, openness to change, transparent approach and eagerness to constantly grow skills is what unites the team here at Calvium. They are all things we look for when we hire too.

Being able to bring all of these qualities to the project table, and demonstrating our ethos through tangible commitments – for example, signing up to the SME Climate Hub and being ISO accredited – is what ensures we are seen as a trusted partner.

Equally importantly, it also attracts partners that share the same values, which is really important to us. When working with Made Tech on the Met Office app, for example, it became clear very early on in the project that we had similar working cultures and values. 

When relationships are underpinned by trust, adapting to project requirements and making changes swiftly becomes much easier. Mutual respect for each other’s expertise builds confidence in the decisions being made – small or radical.

Final thoughts

For reasons explored in this article and more, R&D projects depend on the ability to be flexible. And flexibility itself relies on several key factors:

• Knowledge and skillsets.
• Openness to learning and change.
• Robust project management skills.
• A strong company culture built on shared values and priorities.
• The ability to be agile in the face of change.
• Being able to prove value to justify investment and secure future funding.

With these foundations in place, the outcome is much more likely to be a successful one, both in terms of the product/service developed and stakeholder satisfaction.