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Ask Slashdot: What Are Good Books On Inventing, Innovating and Doing R&D?
dryriver writes: I've signed up to a project that involves inventing new ways to do things and also performing the technology R&D required to make these new ways a reality. So, dear Slashdotters, are there any good books on inventing, innovating or doing R&D? Books that describe different ways to approach inventing/R&D? Books on managing a team effort to invent, innovate and research? Or even good books about the history of past inventions -- how they were created, why they were created, how and why they succeeded or failed in the real world? Thanks!
A young man wrote to Mozart and said:
Q: "Herr Mozart, I am thinking of writing symphonies. Can you give
me any suggestions as to how to get started?"
A: "A symphony is a very complex musical form, perhaps you should
begin with some simple lieder and work your way up to a symphony."
Q: "But Herr Mozart, you were writing symphonies when you were 8
years old."
A: "But I never asked anybody how."
I've worked at several startups, and in R&D groups in larger companies. I've worked at all levels, most often directly with the research scientists. I've been at the elbows of amazing inventors, researchers and innovators. None of them followed any common models, or had many shared processes, but they did share several characteristics that helped me in my own efforts.
When I got out of the US Navy I became a technician, initially performing production calibration of scientific instruments. Soon I was helping on new products and beta instruments. Then one of our scientists lost his lab technician and I was asked to fill-in. It was like drinking from a firehose while juggling grenades. But I immediately knew what I wanted to do, and that was a career in R&D.
1. Know the theory.
It is difficult to create anything truly new unless you have a deep and broad understanding of the relevant theory. This can be done while getting a BS (which I did, but it was a 5-year BS), but most often it requires an MS. Or equivalent! You certainly can get the classes in the evenings. Technologies and their applications come and go at a furious rate: Theory never becomes obsolete, and it only grows with time.
2. Know the the field.
It is important to know what's already been done in the field, and what's happening now. Sometimes, our new great idea has actually been done before, and likely failed. Knowing the history, the main companies, the main researchers, and the applicable technology in a field is vital to know even what or where to innovate. This typically means joining professional societies (SPIE, IEEE, ACM, etc.), subscribing to journals, going to conferences, trade fairs, and vendor/distributor seminars.
4. Know all the buzzwords.
It is important to know the full vocabulary within a field, within its adjacent fields, and within all fields it relies upon. It's all the "meta-data", knowing what things exist and how they are related. You do NOT need to know much of anything about the underlying theory or tech. This is where Google makes a difference. Become expert at "surfing buzzword chains". If you know just the conceptual connections, you know a huge amount about the field.
One critical area for such buzzword/meta-data knowledge is math, particularly applied math. For example, I have never used, implemented or even seen an "Extended Kalman Filter", but I know where and when they are used, and if I'm ever in a related area, I'll know it's time to study EKFs. I've read the abstracts and conclusions in papers about EKFs (that's where the vocabulary is), but I have yet to read any of the pages in-between.
5. Learn from others.
I was extraordinarily lucky to have a terrific scientist mentor so early. Don't wait for luck! Learn who the innovators are in your field, find out the events they attend, make sure you go to them, and offer to buy lunch, beers, or whatever else is needed to get time with them. Join the email groups and forums they participate in. Follow them on social media. Read every article or paper they ever wrote.
Then ask them for a job. It rarely works, but it's worked for me twice! (I just got really used to "No", and kept trying.)
6. Read biographies of great innovators and companies.
Start close to your field, the go wider as needed. Be sure to focus on ones that emphasize the technical aspects. I generally avoid autobiographies unless they have a great ghost-writer and/or have great reviews from technical folks.
7. Think outside the box. Literally.
Don't get trapped within US culture. Do some of all the above outside of English-speaking countries. Particularly focus on Asia. Learn bits of other languages, such as Mandarin and Russian, enough to be polite at conferences (Duolingo rocks). Use Google Translate to read papers lacking English versions.
8. NEVER be afraid to ask a "stupid" question!
I can't emphasize this enough. Most scientists are eager to discuss their work, but t