# When is externalized research better than internalized research and vice versa? [[DARPA does not do any research in house]], which has several advantages. However even in the domain of [[Mission-focused research]] examples like [[Lockheed Skunkworks]], [[Bell Labs]], and others have demonstrated that internalized research can produce excellent results and has clear advantages. Internalized research lowers some set of [[Transaction costs]], enables closer collaboration between disciplines, smooths transition to manufacturing, and makes capturing value easier. The fact that internalized vs externalized work is not a binary distinction but a spectrum makes the situation even more complicated. My hunch is that there is some class of work where the advantages of externalized research dominates and another class of work where the advantages of internalized research dominates. I don’t have a good answer to where that line is, but it is an important question to address. If you think of coordination on a spectrum, there is a lot of work on both ends, but not the middle. Most grant-giving organizations operate on the “loose coordination” end of the spectrum — creating “communities” and funding clusters of thematically related projects. Companies operate on the “tight coordination” end of the spectrum — hiring the majority of people doing the work and doing it in-house. The sparsely populated middle of the spectrum involves someone with a non-consensus opinion enunciating a vision, collecting the weirdos who agree with them, specifically laying out what work needs to be done across several organizations, and then keeps all those projects working towards a single goal. Call this “parallelized coordination” ==need better word== <[[When is externalized research better than internalized research and vice versa?]] ### Related * [[Modularization allows different groups to work on different pieces]] * [[Modularization requires legible interfaces]] * [[The higher a TRL the more internalized research should be]] * [[Program design is a coordination tool]] * UX/low-requirement systems feel like something that’s very hard to externalize * Low-requirement systems are hard to modularize [[Modularization allows different groups to work on different pieces]] * Related: externalization, modularization * [[R+D orgs lie on a spectrum between externalized and internalized execution and benefits]] <!-- #questions --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/When+is+externalized+research+better+than+internalized+research+and+vice+versa) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/When+is+externalized+research+better+than+internalized+research+and+vice+versa)