Product Thinking Podcast – Episode 246: Rethinking the Role of R&D

Host: Melissa Perri
Release Date: September 19, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Product Thinking features a "Dear Melissa" Q&A where host Melissa Perri dives into the evolving role of Research & Development (R&D) departments in modern product-led organizations. Responding to a thoughtful listener question, Melissa unpacks the ways R&D teams can either accelerate or hinder product innovation and offers pragmatic advice for integrating R&D with product, engineering, and customer value streams.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Expanding the Product Management Lens

• Systemic View:
  • Success in product development isn’t limited to day-to-day PM/dev collaboration; it requires a holistic, organizational approach that examines the systems, processes, and culture supporting product teams.
  • "It's about how an organization supports products as a whole. The systems, the processes and cultures in place that help companies deliver value to their customers." ([00:01])

2. Defining R&D's Role in Modern Companies

• Traditional vs. Contemporary Roles:
  • R&D can manifest in organizations as content experts, academic liaisons, technical specialists, or platform teams.
  • In many cases, R&D members act as forward-facing experts—such as pharmacists in healthcare or educators in edtech—contributing industry insight rather than direct software development.
  • "One side of R and D is that they're content experts... they're kind of like experts on the content that's going into the system, but also the market perspective." ([03:37])
• Naming Conventions & Clarity:
  • The traditional "R&D" name can be misleading when applied to subject matter or market experts. Melissa suggests titles like “market expert” or “content expert” may be more precise descriptions.

3. Common Pitfalls: The Siloed R&D Department

• Risk of Disconnection from Product Value:
  • Siloed, academia-oriented R&D teams often lack integration with product delivery and customer value, spending resources on initiatives not aligned with business needs.
  • "When I do see R and D kind of be siloed... they're not connected back to the customer value piece. They're kind of given free reign to just experiment or do academic type technology work." ([05:19])
• Origin Stories Matter:
  • Companies founded by technical or academic specialists tend to emphasize research, sometimes at the expense of aligning with customer-centric product strategy.

4. Best Practices for Integrating R&D

• Treat R&D as Platform or Embedded Teams:
  • R&D’s technical innovation (e.g., new algorithms, scientific advances) should directly feed the platform or core product teams rather than existing as separate silos.
  • "We should be treating them more like part of the platform team... We just need to give people some space for that." ([07:00])
• Balance Evangelism and Empowerment:
  • R&D can play an “evangelist” role—spreading technological innovation internally—but should not be positioned above or outside of engineering and product.

5. Practical Questions for Leaders

• Ensure Customer Value Alignment:
  • Leaders should periodically assess whether R&D’s work is supporting product features that deliver real value to users and the business.
  • "There could be a disconnect between what the R and D team is doing and what we actually have to launch to customers to make money." ([10:24])
• Proportional Investment:
  • The scale of R&D investment must match company size and strategic goals. Startups may need to tightly focus on delivery, while large firms can afford broader research.
  • "If I'm a small company, I might not be able to afford a ton of time on that scientific research stuff. But if I'm a big company like Facebook, you could have multiple teams doing that, right?" ([11:16])
• Key Questions:
  • How much time should R&D spend on pure research vs. deliverables?
  • How are their outputs integrated with the customer value flow?

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Role of R&D:
  • "They're not usually building the software, they're more like advisory roles... I've definitely seen R and D in those situations." ([04:01])
• On Academic R&D Misalignment:
  • "There's usually a strategy disconnect between what we actually want to bring to customers and what those teams are prioritizing and doing." ([05:46])
• On Empowerment:
  • "I don't think they're super separate or special compared to other engineers on the team. And I do agree that you want to empower the rest of the engineering in the organization as well." ([08:40])
• On Company Size and R&D Investment:
  • "What size are you? How do we incorporate R and D? How are they actually connected? The customer value flow? Those are some, some big questions to bring up..." ([12:10])

Important Timestamps

• 00:01–00:37: Episode introduction and overview of systems thinking in product management
• 03:37–05:30: Analysis of different R&D roles (content experts, educators, academic liaisons)
• 05:19–07:40: Problems with siloed R&D and innovation misalignment
• 07:00–08:40: Integrating R&D with platform/engineering teams; balancing technical evangelism
• 10:24–13:00: Strategic guidance to product leaders on aligning R&D with business and customer value

Episode Takeaways

• R&D can provide value as subject matter experts or technical innovators but must be integrated with product and engineering for real impact.
• Avoid creating R&D silos that operate detached from the core product and customer needs.
• Titles matter: clarify R&D’s purpose and contribution to the organization through more precise naming.
• Leaders should continually evaluate R&D’s alignment with company strategy, stage, and desired customer outcomes.

For listeners and leaders alike, this episode provides actionable frameworks and thought-provoking questions to rethink the function and future of R&D within product-driven organizations.