Inside Project Red Stripe: Incubating Innovation and Teamwork at The Economist

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.