3.1 The basic strategy

Where do you start when you embark on the quest for knowledge? For some reason, people always want to start with a big plan. Cover all the bases. Leave no stone unturned. Big, bold, impressive and ambitious plans.

Nothing wrong with ambitions, but this is the fastest way to get the project stopped before it has even started. First of all, the parts that is useful here and now or in the immediate future drowns in the vast amount of work that may lead to something useful. It looks like way too much work compared to the payoff. Just looking at these immense plans for something that may give some info can make people tired, and for what? You have to change the plans pretty soon anyway, because the first experiments will usually lead to new relevant experiments and other experiments will become irrelevant.

Forget it. You need to move with deliberate steps in the experimental landscape, and plan as the topology of the landscape reveals itself while you move. Think of it as a military operation.

1. You move into the area, first you have a recon mission to assess the tactical situation. That would be the literature studies and initial tests. Just like good intel from recon missions will save time, money and lives, so will the literature studies and initial tests save time, money, and man hours in the following work.
   
   This part also includes finding out what the competitors are doing. Get product samples from the competitors! For some reason this is often forgotten.
   
   
2. After moving in, you secure the area. That would be the experiments and tests. If you did the literature studies and initials tests, you know where to expect problems, so you can limit your tests to the relevant ones. You also have a qualified guess as to the direction to move next.
   
   Use the competitor products as one of the reference points (i.e. you want several reference points). They are already working the market, so you they are the ones you are competing against in terms of price, performance and other selling points.
   
   
3. When the area is secured, you start fortifying your position. In the product development this is where you start doing design freeze on product and production equipment. The first prototypes are made and ageing tests of the first models are started.
   
   

So, start with your immediate problems you need to cover and work your way outwards from there. If there are no immediate problems, make an educated guess (or get someone qualified to do so) as to where the problems are most likely to occur. If you have done the literature study on the subject, the areas where you are most likely to encounter problems should be evident.