But We Have no Budget for R&D

Project engineers know better. Never include research and development in a design project. R&D is difficult to manage, and can easily cause a product release schedule to slip. But some managers succumb to the temptation. They may feel justified in slipping some research into a design project as a result of repeated management denials of resources for R&D. Perhaps they overstate the readiness of a technology just a little. Maybe they "forget" to mention the risks inherent in a particular approach. Because of curiosity, ego, or a genuine wish to help the company, they are hoping they can deceive management long enough to pull this off. Hope is not a powerful force in project management, and these things rarely end well. The R&D does not have the needed resources behind it, and the delays will end up driving the project schedule out. Or the project engineer tries to cover his tracks by releasing work that really isn't completed. This comes back to haunt the company as a firefighting issue.

This is an example of the locally rational/ globally irrational problem. The interests of the engineer do not align with the interests of the company. It is important to understand that the engineer thought he was making a rational decision. His frustration with the lack of R&D funds caused him to ignore risks and standing policy.

Management may say "Of course we have no budget for R&D. We had to commit all our resources to cleaning up the last mess you made."