Inside Project Red Stripe

Sometimes a diary, sometimes an essay collection and always an insightful guide to the process of innovation, "Project Red Stripe" chronicles the work of six staff members of "The Economist", who were given GBP 100,000 and six months to come up with 'the next big thing' that the company should do. The only stipulation was that it be Internet-related. The group had permission to develop and launch a new business without prior approval from the Board."Project Red Stripe" unravels the many issues and dilemmas that "The Economist"'s innovation team faced: How businesses should prepare for the next phase of web innovation; How to integrate a team of complete strangers to work together seamlessly; How to balance calls for transparency and the need for commercial secrecy; How innovation might work in a world of online social networking and blogging; How six people can survive in a tiny office for six months without killing each other; How to evaluate ideas and choose the best; How to merge technical and non-technical people on a technical project; and, How well current theories of innovation work in practice.For anyone involved with innovation or creativity in business or the public sector, or working in a media company or simply working in a team, "Project Red Stripe" suggests new ways of approaching thorny problems and provides a wry insight into the workings of homo creativus. It also offers a fascinating look inside a small London office to show how six of "The Economist"'s cleverest people worked at the 'bleeding edge' of technical and technological know-how but still didn't get their office door to stop slamming for the first five months.