Just Say No
By Peter LloydMore than 30 years ago a study published in the Harvard Business Review determined that white-collar workers could have ten times more time by not wasting time. Part of that waste is unproductive innovation—time spent re-inventing the wheel.
Back in 1982 scientists in California proposed an explanation for major changes in levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. More recently some University of Michigan researchers revived that "old" theory. Who tossed it out in the first place? Why?
I'm sure you've upgraded your favorite computer program and wished you had stuck with the old version. What happened to what it was that made the old version so good?
My cellphone used to take me to my voicemail messages with just one button push. Without notice, they made the path to my messages three times as complicated. Why did they make it more difficult?
In the old days, they say, doctors could tell a lot about a patient's condition by observing odors in the sick room. Could this old-fashioned skill be revived? Could it replace or support more sophisticated and costlier techniques?
Tom Magliozzi of "Car Talk" fame test-drives up to 100 cars a year. In Technology Review, he lists some design blunders that give innovation a bad name, including: failing to copy good ideas, too many cooks, and "Oops! Where are we going to put this?"
Remember, it's not an innovation if it makes matters worse. So if you're in charge and a bunch of conquer-the-world creative types are trying to shove change for the sake of change down your throat, just do what Marlene Dietrich did when Hitler asked her to be his mistress.
She said no.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.