For quite a few years now, I have worked with companies on improving the effectiveness of their R&D in terms of revenue generated from development efforts. One of the key challenges is that sales and product management talk to R&D teams in terms of a concrete solution, such as a feature, that they want the team to build. The challenge is that the specific feature seldomly leads to the expected outcome. The better approach, which we managed to get in place in some companies, is where R&D teams start to ask the “why” question. Why this feature? What is the expected effect? What are you really looking to accomplish? And is this feature really the best way of doing so? It often turns out that it is not and in the interaction much better solutions are created. So, rather than talking about what to do and how to do it, spend more time ensuring that you are clear on why you’re doing it. What is your intent?