John Van Reenen

Looking back, trying to do things quickly in such a complicated system, there was so much complexity that a lot of these contracts effectively had to be rewritten afterwards. And I think another general lesson is that when you're doing a long-term, important big contract, you can't get everything written down quickly. There has to be a lot of give and take.

Looking back, trying to do things quickly in such a complicated system, there was so much complexity that a lot of these contracts effectively had to be rewritten afterwards. And I think another general lesson is that when you're doing a long-term, important big contract, you can't get everything written down quickly. There has to be a lot of give and take.

It's a kind of relationship that you have to adjust as things go. Contracts are very fuzzy. They're very incomplete. You just have to accept that, that you're going to have to not get things right, but not try to do everything really, really, really quickly. An IT project's never just about IT. It's also about the way you change a whole organization.

It's a kind of relationship that you have to adjust as things go. Contracts are very fuzzy. They're very incomplete. You just have to accept that, that you're going to have to not get things right, but not try to do everything really, really, really quickly. An IT project's never just about IT. It's also about the way you change a whole organization.

It's a kind of relationship that you have to adjust as things go. Contracts are very fuzzy. They're very incomplete. You just have to accept that, that you're going to have to not get things right, but not try to do everything really, really, really quickly. An IT project's never just about IT. It's also about the way you change a whole organization.

And to do it, it's not just about spending money. You also have to get players in that system on board because it's very difficult to just get them to do things, especially, you know, in a public system where you can't just fire people if you want to fire them. You really have to have a culture of kind of bringing people on board if you want to make these type of changes.

And to do it, it's not just about spending money. You also have to get players in that system on board because it's very difficult to just get them to do things, especially, you know, in a public system where you can't just fire people if you want to fire them. You really have to have a culture of kind of bringing people on board if you want to make these type of changes.

And to do it, it's not just about spending money. You also have to get players in that system on board because it's very difficult to just get them to do things, especially, you know, in a public system where you can't just fire people if you want to fire them. You really have to have a culture of kind of bringing people on board if you want to make these type of changes.

And that just didn't happen. So I don't think it's just one thing you could think of. There's the haste, there's the design which worked out badly, and there's the cultural aspects that we've talked about. When you're trying to innovate, you want to have a way of allowing people to take risks and do things wrong, but then you also have to have feedback mechanisms to figure out, well, you know,

And that just didn't happen. So I don't think it's just one thing you could think of. There's the haste, there's the design which worked out badly, and there's the cultural aspects that we've talked about. When you're trying to innovate, you want to have a way of allowing people to take risks and do things wrong, but then you also have to have feedback mechanisms to figure out, well, you know,

And that just didn't happen. So I don't think it's just one thing you could think of. There's the haste, there's the design which worked out badly, and there's the cultural aspects that we've talked about. When you're trying to innovate, you want to have a way of allowing people to take risks and do things wrong, but then you also have to have feedback mechanisms to figure out, well, you know,

what has gone wrong. So creating an attitude of saying, well, we actually don't know what the right thing to do is. So we're prepared to do experimentations and learn from that.

what has gone wrong. So creating an attitude of saying, well, we actually don't know what the right thing to do is. So we're prepared to do experimentations and learn from that.

what has gone wrong. So creating an attitude of saying, well, we actually don't know what the right thing to do is. So we're prepared to do experimentations and learn from that.

I think that when you do what we do in research, you recognize the fact that most ideas you have are not going to work. There's a risk of being paralyzed by that. But the way to approach that is to say, well, let's just, you know, try them out. In a way, the whole market economy is like an experimentation machine.

I think that when you do what we do in research, you recognize the fact that most ideas you have are not going to work. There's a risk of being paralyzed by that. But the way to approach that is to say, well, let's just, you know, try them out. In a way, the whole market economy is like an experimentation machine.

I think that when you do what we do in research, you recognize the fact that most ideas you have are not going to work. There's a risk of being paralyzed by that. But the way to approach that is to say, well, let's just, you know, try them out. In a way, the whole market economy is like an experimentation machine.

Loads of companies fail, but the ones who do come up with things which people want to buy or come up with new ideas are the ones who can be successful. So I think that notion of embracing failure is very important.

Loads of companies fail, but the ones who do come up with things which people want to buy or come up with new ideas are the ones who can be successful. So I think that notion of embracing failure is very important.

Loads of companies fail, but the ones who do come up with things which people want to buy or come up with new ideas are the ones who can be successful. So I think that notion of embracing failure is very important.