Episode 52 - R&D, Product Design, and Innovation with George Mirabelli

On this episode of the DevReady Podcast, Andrew and Anthony sit down with SoftLogic Solution's R&D Director, George Mirabelli. George got his start designing air-traffic controller systems for the military and various governments around the world. He then started working with R&D in insurance and finance systems. He had a long career in design and software development. Recently, he’s been showing businesses how to really make the most of the R&D tax incentives from a design perspective. Criteria for the R&D tax incentive: ●Australian company ●High innovation ●New knowledge requires experimentation and risk of failure George really plainly puts it that with R&D, you’re investing previous profits into developing new products—so it needs to be worth it. The R&D structure of your product design needs to be fully incorporated to reap your maximum ROI. George also explains the difference between the apportionment method vs. the timesheet method. Topics Covered: ●Understanding the R&D tax incentive. ●The knowledge that can be easily accessed is not new knowledge. ●Core and supporting R&D activities. ●Getting your documentation straight early on is key. ●R&D is an integral part of the product strategy. ●Tracking costs in core and supporting R&D. ●Creating an R&D manual. Key Quotes: ❏“With a rebate up to 43%, [The R&D tax incentive] is designed for high innovation, like new knowledge.” (4:30) ❏“It doesn’t matter if the experimentation is successful.” (5:45) ❏“It’s really important that people take the documentation process and embed it into the way they think about R&D, which is basically what I do.” (12:25) ❏“It’s important in software development to separate the idea of Agile development from the iterations.” (15:45) ❏“It’s just writing it down.” (17:15) ❏“You want to be able to find [your R&D processes] consistently.” (24:45) ❏“R&D starts when the product is being conceptualized.” (28:30)