[hinkley]

The opposite hasn't really worked out in Detroit, and I don't think it worked particularly well for Boeing either, but I still think organizing R&D under one human is a huge part of the problem. Too much 'efficiency' in research and effectiveness drops to zero. Lack of urgency or excessive urgency (read: burnout) will lead to team after team running out of fucks to give, and one day someone will look up and see nothing has been accomplished with the last several millions of dollars.

I believe having different people running 'competing' groups that report to the board instead of a tall narrow org chart with clear choke points may not fix the problem entirely, but it would slow down the cycle. Worst case you disband one of the orgs and create a new group to replace it, run by someone from one of the more efficient divisions, or new blood from outside.