The sequential nature of activities like research, development, or
exploration requires optimal funding criteria to take account of the fact
that subsequent funding decisions will be made throughout the future. Thus,
there is a continual possibility of reviewing a project's status, based
on the latest information. After setting up a model to capture this
feature, optimal funding criteria are investigated. In an important
special case, an explicit formula is derived. As well as throwing light
upon the nature of development activities, the analysis is also relevant
to the general theory of information gathering processes
