[Martin Weller](http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2010/07/projects-innovation-the-small-price-of-a-coffee.html), on how to go underground while maintaining the appearance of legitimate "official" projectdom:
>You'll see the dilemma here - in economically straitened times, the instinct is to control everything tightly through a project structure, but this project structure is not well suited to the type of innovation you need to engage in to perform well. The institutional instincts may be contrary to the overall well being of the institution as a whole, rather like a wounded animal fighting off a vet.
leading to a possible solution or workaround:
>The solution is probably to set up a non-project project, or something like Google's 10% time when people are free to explore other approaches, but these are by their very nature, unpredictable and uncertain. And in times of financial crisis unpredictability and uncertainty are not favourable characteristics for a proposal. We know, however, that these are precisely the qualities that lead to exciting developments online. So, how to square that circle?
Setting up a non-project project to legitimize informal activities. I like it. I'm going to do it. Hopefully, it doesn't get me fired.
Now, it'd be really nice if solutions and workarounds weren't needed. But the status quo demands numbers and accounts. It can have them.
The question is, should the project be something like "Facilitating Innovation Community of Practice", or more like "Recompiling Webserver Kernel and Optimizing Throughput"?
from *[The Ed Techie: Projects, innovation & the small price of a coffee](http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2010/07/projects-innovation-the-small-price-of-a-coffee.html)*