Management Stripped Bare 105 Stop doing something. The essence of capitalism is that bad ideas die and good ideas flourish. Find out what you can kill, and then reinvest the savings in the things that are working the best. Perhaps the best way to approach the challenge is to ask your boss why there is the sudden lust for innovation. Innovation is a solution in search of a problem. Find out what the problem is, and solve that, rather than going on a wild goose chase in search of the pixie dust of innovation. If gaining more customers is the challenge, focus on that. If reducing costs or lead times is the challenge, then focus on that. It always pays to know the question you are meant to answer. IT consultants: the builder's brick IT consultants and builders are the same. You can never find a good one when you want one; the work always costs more and lasts longer than you expected and the people involved cause huge disruption when they are in. Of course, one lot have bellies over their jeans, and others have partners in bespoke suits. Next time the IT consultants come selling, imagine them with their beer barrel bellies and site clothing. It makes it easier to tolerate the builder's speech that they will then give you. Score them on the speech. When they pass 5 out of 10, quietly get up and give each of them a brick. Do not explain why. One week later, send them a photocopy of this page, complete with your scoring. Here are the builders' comments to look for: They rubbish the previous work. `Whoever did that plastering should be shot' versus `COBOL? Hardly anyone has that nowadays.' The work will be bigger than you thought. `That's not a bit of damp mate, you'll need to put in a whole new damp course' versus `Of course you'll have to replace all those systems as well.' The work is not just big, it's tricky. `Flat roofs are always dodgy' versus `You can't buy a package for that: we have to build something specially.' So, of course, it will be expensive. `It's going to cost you' versus `This will be a big investment.' And it will take a long time. `It'll take a long time' versus `It'll take a long time.'