A tool to manage tasks of R&D projects

We propose a tool for managing tasks of Research and Development (R&D) projects. We define an R&D project as a network of tasks and we assume that different amounts of resources may be allocated to a task, leading to different costs and different average execution times. The advancement of a task is stochastic, and the management may reallocate resources while the task is being performed, according to its progress. We consider that a strategy for completing a task is a set of rules that define the level of resources to be allocated to the task at each moment. We discuss the evaluation of strategies for completing a task, and we address the problem of finding the optimal strategy. The model herein presented uses real options theory, taking into account operational flexibility, uncertain factors and the task progression. The evaluation procedure should maximize the financial value for the task and give the correspondent strategy to execute it. The procedure and model developed are general enough to apply to a generic task of an R&D project. It is simple and the input parameters can be inferred through company and/or project information.