If an R&D project ever goes smoothly according to a schedule, by definition it is not an R&D project! Such projects are characterized by “unknown unknowns”, things we don’t know that we don’t know. We have to find ways to deal with that essential, irreducible uncertainty.
My definition of R&D here is not just fundamental scientific or technological breakthroughs. It includes doing things a particular team has not done and has no access to people who have done it before. A lot of advanced industrial know how is in that category for India. A new industry coming up in a rural area, where no one with previous expertise will move, has to accept the task of figuring many things out on their own, supplemented by online learning. I call that the “Eklayvya Strategy” and the Dronacharya here is the online learning.
One thing such projects cannot burden themselves with is a firm schedule. When I start a new initiative, with a lot of unknown unknowns, I don’t set a schedule. Instead we seek to achieve and celebrate small milestones and victories. It is a voyage of self-discovery. 🙏
Zoho example
(Source: https://threader. app/thread/1365101657055322112)
We just concluded our #ZohoDay2021 online event for industry analysts, with record participation. 🙏We hosted this on Zoho’s own event platform with our home grown audio-video framework, a combination of @ZohoBackstage, @ZohoShowTime and @zohomeeting. I will explain this.
One year ago, our audio-video frameworks were not ready. As the pandemic struck, we realized we were behind in AV tech. In March 2020, we redoubled our R&D efforts. I told our engineers we will invest in this however long it takes and produce a world-class platform. We transferred engineers from other projects to the AV teams. At first the progress was frustratingly slow, as it often happens in R&D, with frequent setbacks. I told our engineers to persist. We used our own products and diligently reported issues encountered to engineers. Then by Oct 2020, we started to improve and we could see visible progress. Yet, running an online event entirely on our platform was a dream. Today, we have concluded a successful event, due to painstaking efforts from our engineers and our events team who stood by them. 🙏
This is a classic example of R&D that I often mention. We need a lot more of this across the industrial landscape in India. The private sector must get into R&D with passion and religious devotion. Company leadership must patiently stand by engineers so they can excel.
We still have work to do in our AV frameworks but we have come a long way in the past year and I am sure our engineers, none of whom had a background in AV before Zoho, will take our products to world class soon. My job is is to ensure I strongly support and nurture them. 🙏