Building a Comprehensive R&D Management System: Thoughts on Dao, Fa, Shu, Qi, and Shi

Background

Technical managers (CTO, director, manager) expect a systematic management approach that enables large teams (hundreds to thousands) to focus on objectives, grow together, operate efficiently, and deliver results quickly to support rapid business development.

Pain Points

Rapid expansion of small teams dilutes culture, reduces efficiency, and weakens goals.

Inconsistent management standards across teams lead to chaotic collaboration.

As the organization grows, it becomes difficult to monitor individual growth and contribution.

Goal

Establish a complete R&D management system and governance mechanisms that keep technical organizations goal‑oriented, high‑performance, and continuously improving.

R&D Management System Construction Thoughts

The system is examined through five dimensions: Dao (culture), Fa (process), Shu (people), Qi (tools), and Shi (strategy).

Dao – Culture, Thinking, Principles, Values, Leadership

In small teams, leaders can directly embed their wisdom into daily management. When teams exceed a hundred members, a formal culture, clear principles, shared values, and strong leadership become essential to maintain alignment.

Focus on Team Culture

Culture stems from mission, vision, and values, providing clear organizational goals. Managers must internalize the organization’s mission, understand customer pain points, and convey these principles to the team, integrating culture into performance assessments and onboarding.

Establish Working Principles

Principles define basic work rules, such as efficiency, trustworthiness, passion, innovation, and sharing. These reflect both corporate culture and the unique engineering mindset, guiding team behavior and incentives.

Work Thinking

Decision‑making should follow user‑first, fighter‑first, value‑driven, and financial‑thinking mindsets, guiding goal setting, project selection, and resource allocation.

Leadership

Leadership involves setting clear goals, motivating the team, influencing others, and empathizing with team members.

Fa – Process, Standardization, Institutionalization

When teams grow beyond 50‑100 members, formalized processes (project and HR) become necessary to improve efficiency and reduce collaboration costs.

Process tools: DingTalk, Feishu, OA, TAPD, etc.

Project workflow: initiation, iteration, release, incident handling, asset request.

HR workflow: onboarding, leave, promotion, recruitment, interview.

Standardize Processes

Adopt consistent project and personnel workflows to streamline operations and improve quality.

Institutionalize Standards

Use knowledge bases (Wiki, Confluence) to document standards such as database design, branch management, release procedures, monitoring, and security.

Shu – Talent Management (Recruit, Use, Grow, Retain, Remove)

Recruitment, onboarding, development, and off‑boarding must be systematic to ensure consistent talent quality as the organization scales.

Recruitment channels, planning, budgeting, interview standardization, and onboarding documentation.

Organizational structures: matrix, functional, product, and innovation models; ladder building for staff levels.

Growth systems: technical competency models, internal knowledge sharing, external community involvement.

Incentive systems: compensation, department, personal, and team‑building incentives.

Performance systems: contribution models, promotion pathways, efficiency metrics, and removal mechanisms.

Qi – Tools and Automation

Adopt cloud platforms, cloud‑native (Kubernetes), DevOps pipelines, collaborative tools (DingTalk, Feishu), and custom frameworks (BSF, business, scaffolding) to boost engineering efficiency.

Monitoring platforms (SkyWalking, CAT) and full‑link performance testing tools.

Third‑party project management tools (Tapd, Worktile) tailored to company needs.

Shi – Strategy and Positioning

Understand external industry trends and internal capabilities to align technology direction with business strategy, ensuring the organization can seize opportunities and adapt to market changes.

Overall Summary

There is no one‑size‑fits‑all R&D management best practice; each organization must continuously refine its framework—learning, sharing, and iterating—to meet evolving challenges. Effective management combines cultural leadership, standardized processes, talent development, tool adoption, and strategic awareness.