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by nathan_compton 733 days ago
God yes please give us an "innovation doctrine."

This is certainly an interesting article to read about but I'm not sure his suggestions or analysis are that substantive. Complex institutions develop rules to simplify decision making and streamline information flows. They choke otherwise. "Develop an innovation doctrine" isn't really effective advice.
2 comments
Mathnerd314 733 days ago
There are various articles on developing a culture of innovation, e.g. https://hbr.org/2019/01/the-hard-truth-about-innovative-cult.... Probably some books too. Even ChatGPT probably has decent advice. Management is not technically complex, it just requires putting in the work. But of course it is not easy, e.g. the first advice in the HBR article is to fire incompetent people, whereas the example here was government where firing incompetent people is notoriously hard.
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nathan_compton 733 days ago
> chatGPT probably has decent advice

If chatGPT has anything other than banal platitudes, I'll eat my hat.

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Mathnerd314 733 days ago
It seems... practical? But not really rocking the boat. Just using Jira though seems like a big step for a government organization. I wouldn't eat my hat but I'd maybe nibble on it and play with the prompts more.https://chatgpt.com/share/13585d1b-a781-49fc-aa42-a7322b6f32...
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OldGuyInTheClub 733 days ago
I agree. I am in aerospace. When times are good, there's money to bring in speakers like this every couple of months to talk to our management. We get the slides afterward and they are refreshingly free of content. All of them essentially repeat the cliche, "Think outside the box!"

We even got one of those Innovation Forums where people could propose ideas, get them upvoted, with the promise of tchotchkes at the end for success. Not a single one got funded. Every efficiency improvement, every streamlining suggestion affects someone's budget and headcount. When that person has to approve, nothing will happen. And, in this industry, a lot of rules are actually law. They have to be followed.

But, the consultants and professional keynote speakers seem to be making good money off of it.

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