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)