From noted Wired.com blogger and military expert Dan Ward comes a manifesto for creating great products and projects using the methods of rapid innovation. Why do some programs deliver their product under budget, while others see their costs expand by orders of magnitude? Why do some deliver ahead of schedule, while others experience endless delay after endless delay? And most critically, which products work better -- the quick and thrifty or the slow and expensive? Which situation leads to superior equipment? Dan Ward, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, set out to look into these questions at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and he noticed a pattern. The most successful project leaders from government and industry alike tend to deliver top-shelf stuff with a skeleton crew, a shoestring budget and a cannonball schedule. They often say, "We were just lucky to have a small team of really creative, dedicated people and we got it done." In contrast, project leaders who are cursed with large budgets, large teams and long schedules generally have a difficult time delivering even a fraction of the promised capability. They often say, "If I had a little more time and money, I could fix this." What Ward realized is that all of that investment spells death for innovation.

The real secret is to follow the F.I.R.E. initiative: to be Fast, Inexpensive, Restrained, and Elegant. Fast: Put your projects on a short timeline, and don't try to solve problems by adding days. Speed enhances accountability, and increases the likelihood that the product will be well aligned with the market. Inexpensive Design your organizations and processes with thrift in mind, solving problems with intellectual capital instead of financial capital.

Be the guy delivering ten pounds of awesome on a five pound purse. Restrained: True sophistication, true design maturity, true process maturity, is shown by deep simplicity, not brain-meltingly complex diagrams and structures. In other words, complexity is nothing to brag about. Elegant: This is the common thread that runs through the whole FIRE concept. It is a preference for restraint, for small budgets and small teams, for short schedules, short meetings, and short documents. Filled with examples drawn from the commercial world as well as the military, the F.I.R.

E. Initiative delivers principles and practices that help everyone design and develop better products and projects. You don't have to be an engineer or a senior executive to implement these ideas; readers at all levels will find valuable advice about how to put these ideas to work right away.