5Planning and Managing the Work
5.1 Introduction
This chapter is concerned with how development programmes, of all types, should be managed to achieve the desired results. In this respect, it deals with ‘project management’. The context is programmes for new technologies or new products, and the term ‘project’ is used in this chapter to refer to these programmes of work.
At one level, the development of new technology and products can be seen as an essentially technical process, concerned with, for example, ideas, drawings, calculations, and tests. The core processes of development do obviously centre on activities of this type and many more. However, that is not to say that ‘management’ has no part to play, in either a facilitating or overseeing role. In particular, the effectiveness of development will only be as good as its planning and subsequent direction. This is increasingly the case as technologies or products advance in development maturity. Inevitably, the projects associated with them become bigger and more complex as they move towards production, and hence, they become potentially more difficult to manage. Effectiveness will also depend on how the people staffing the project are led and how the host organisation(s) function.
At one end of the spectrum, there are small‐scale research projects involving just a few people over a period of months or a few years. At the other end, there are major projects, such as the design and construction of aircraft carriers where ...