R&D must be on the offensive
For most of the last 30 years, R&D sat deep inside the company. A customer would ask for a new feature such as an integration needed to make the product work inside its environment. The request then moved through account teams, product managers, prioritization meetings, roadmap debates, QA, release planning, and deployment windows. By the time the answer came back, the customer had often built a…
R&D needs to be a proactive force in the business. For decades, it operated from within, responding to customer requests through a lengthy process involving multiple teams and stages. However, this approach put the company at a disadvantage, as competitors could move faster. Now, the key is to bring R&D closer to customers and the market, enabling swift responses to customer needs.
Companies that adopt AI-native development can compress the time between a customer conversation and a product outcome. This shift in mindset puts R&D in a position to drive strategic advantage. To achieve this, companies should move R&D closer to the market, measure cycle time as a strategic metric, build systems that balance speed and accountability, and treat customer feedback as valuable intelligence. By doing so, companies can learn faster, ship faster, and set the pace for their competitors.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
