A PRACTICAL FRAMWORK FOR MANAGING INNOVATION PROJECTS

Abstract

Traditional project management approaches can struggle to accommodate the uncertainty and learning‐driven dynamics that characterize innovation projects. This paper presents a practical framework for managing such projects, integrating insights from management, engineering, cognitive psychology, and more than 20 years of hands‐on experience in innovation‐intensive domains including defence, security, and life science. The framework highlights how cognitive biases—such as confirmation bias, the Not‐Invented‐Here syndrome, analogy anchoring, and the sunk‐cost fallacy—can impede creative problem solving. It further illustrates how long‐standing engineering principles, including Conway's Law and Brooks's Law, continue to shape outcomes when organizational structures, communication patterns, or team size are misaligned with innovation needs.