There are even people who call CryoLife with ideas that they want to license. Yes, before we start a project, we have a pretty good idea of what we want to use it for. We don't know all the problems there can be, but we establish the need, and then we try to find something that will fill that need. So we try to establish that up front, before we ever bring it inside. For all of our projects we have timetables.
Projects have different priorities.
For key projects, I'd say we have meetings once a week, sometimes more, to update all the key people about what's going on. They're usually not involved with the research meetings, but as the product is developed, we do involve manufacturing and quality control, to make sure our track is reasonable. I would say them more than marketing and finance. They'll have an idea of what's coming along, but that's pretty finished product before they get involved. The sales people might bring us an idea from a surgeon, but they're not at these weekly meetings.