Assessing the Success of R&D Projects and Innovation Projects through Project Management Life Cycle

Abstract

The success of R&D projects and innovation projects have a significant effect on technology enhancement and new product development, while developing project success criteria and customizing methods to measure the project success for R&D projects and innovation projects is a demanding task. In addition, the late assessment of project success in R&D projects and innovation projects has been associated with noticeable waste in time and budget. This research is based on previous studies of the authors that customized the new hybrid methodology to manage R&D&I projects in CFAA and validated the project success dimensions and criteria. In the previous researches of authors the hybrid project management methodology for R&D&I projects was developed and the project success dimensions and criteria were defined. This research aimed to answer the following question regarding the R&D&I project success evaluation. When is an appropriate time to assess the project success? Apparently the late assessment of project success is associated with significant drawbacks, therefore, the assessment of project success during the project management life cycle is the purpose of this research. The research methodology is based on the survey regarding the assessment of the project success from the project manager's perspective. The project's success criteria in the survey were translated into qualitative questions ranked through Likert scale and the survey was constructed through reviewing the literature regarding the project success criteria. The validity and reliability of survey were confirmed through smart PLS software to validate the relevancy of questions to measure the contribution of each project success dimensions in the project's success. Finally, the extension of the Hybrid R&D&I project management methodology is proposed which contains the gates to assess the project success criteria by means of this survey in each gate during the project management life cycle.