Dan Nawrocki

A thorough understanding of the IP landscape is essential from the outset. Mapping both competitive and non-competitive IP can reveal potential licensing opportunities, which may be useful for evaluating the net present value (NPV) of licensing a technology versus developing it in-house. Once the IP landscape is established, regular reviews should be conducted to stay current. Given the changes in U.S. patent laws over the years, particularly the shift to a "first to file" system, it's crucial that your organization has a knowledgeable and innovative legal team to navigate these complexities effectively.

An approach that leverages Agile methodology by breaking down tasks into sprints—short, focused segments that clearly define how each sprint connects to the next. This structure helps mitigate scope creep at each stage. The formality of meetings should be adapted to the team’s needs and comfort levels, ensuring that meetings are purposeful. Instead of holding meetings for the sake of it, focus on real-time check-ins to keep progress on track and fuel natural interactions between the team members.

Choosing the appropriate communication channels is just as important as delivering the message, especially in R&D, where the information can be highly technical and multifaceted projects. Investing time upfront to understand your team's strengths and weaknesses is vital for selecting the most effective communication methods is highly dependent on the composition of the team’s experience, skill, and enthusiasm for the required tasks at hand.

Clear goals are crucial because they allow for the creation and customization of performance indicators tailored to each team member. These indicators should provide enough flexibility for team members to share feedback with one another, fostering group collaboration without the need for formal meetings. This informal, impromptu data sharing is facilitated by the leader’s emphasis on strong communication.

Continuous learning emphasis with focus on fundamentals. Looking at adjacent or related spaces. Create a tactical format starting from end goal and work backwards looking for similarities, always be aware of the assist from biomimicry of how nature compensates.

Always learn from the mistakes not just the successes. One person’s failure is another’s need. Be fearless and record all the aspects of your trials.