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  • November 13th, 2006
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  • Innovation

Idea killers: ways to stop ideas

Last week in the creative thinking course I’m teaching at UW, we spent time listing idea killers. Statements we’ve heard, or used, that stop ideas in their tracks. Have any to add?

Mostly these are used as thought inhibitors: they don’t require any thought to say. They’re used as flinch negative responses, dismissing without explanation. Unlike real critical thinking, which offers a path (e.g if you can overcome x, y and z we’ll consider it) idea killers are lazy dead ends.

Idea Killers

  • We tried that already
  • That never works
  • Would you like a pony?
  • Looks like ass
  • You’re fired
  • We will actively work against you
  • (Laughter)
  • Not in our budget
  • Not an interesting problem
  • We don’t have time
  • Execs will never go for it
  • Out of scope
  • But its the law
  • Too blue sky / Holy grail
  • This train is on fire
  • Wont make enough $$
  • Not in our business
  • Its Non performant (engineering)
  • What are you on?
  • Can we get someone with a brain in here?
  • That isn’t what people want
  • No response at all

What are others you’ve heard?

  • Posted Monday, November 13th, 2006 at 3:48 pm

  • in Innovation, humor | 97 Comments » |

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97 Responses

  • Scott Adams - November 13, 2006 at 7:37 pm

  • I don’t mean to shoot that down but…


  • Andreas Scherer - November 14, 2006 at 1:25 am

  • That OO stuff sure is very nice, but … we don’t really want to cripply our engineers’ creativity by introducing such restrictive frameworks.


  • Jordan Torjussen - November 14, 2006 at 4:38 am

  • That’s great, but what really needs to get done around here is…

    Vaguely condescending or startled smile.

    I’ll look into it/take it up with…

    But that’s not even really a problem any more.

    But that wouldn’t do anybody any good for thirty years and in the meantime… (Think alternative fuels, which by that estimation – had the push to develop them not been defunded and un-mandated by the Reagan administration – would be kicking in just about now.)


  • Chris Harbert - November 14, 2006 at 7:35 am

  • Customers won’t like that (without asking customers).

    That’s too expensive (without doing a cost benefit analysis).

    That’s a dog that won’t hunt (yeah, I’ve actually heard this one).

    We can’t use open source (when plenty of legitimate companies do).

    That’s not what we do here (yeah, but why not?).

    We’re already doing something else.

    We’re not like the people who do that (without additional explaination).

    We never told anyone we were going to do that.


  • Danielle Clark - November 14, 2006 at 9:39 am

  • This is the way it’s always been (the way you are trying to change).

    That just won’t work in the “real world”.


  • Carlos Torres - November 14, 2006 at 10:13 am

  • there isn’t enough user base yet to undergo the complexity of integrating these apps, we can move data manually for now…

    we dont have time to re-write this code in OO…(eventually demand made code re-use VERY appealing :p )

    why fix something thats not broken yet?


  • Bernard Farrell - November 14, 2006 at 1:08 pm

  • Let me play devil’s advocate for a second…


  • Mark Prins - November 14, 2006 at 2:09 pm

  • (regarding more ‘thinking’ before ‘doing’)
    - It all sounds okay, but we allways did it this way, so we will continue doing that

    (again regarding the planning/vision/requirements process)
    - If you want it, prepare/do it in your own time I dont want you to do it during working hours…

    (after working in my own hours and moved a lot of work and, now on a bit of a harsh tone, explaining what the use is)
    - I dont like your tone in of all this..

    (on wanting to write things down for future reference)
    - Write things down? I know everything! If you dont know it anymore, ask me!

    (One I heard SO many times that, when it was used once more it just drove all motivation out of me)
    - You can start it as a pet project!

    - Do it in your spare time, if it is succesfull we maybe use it

    - No, thats not a good idea. You dont know what I want.


  • Krishna - November 16, 2006 at 12:12 am

  • Here’re some more:

    “But our experience with (so and so) tells us that this won’t work”

    “That’s not important! What matters is…”

    “Why don’t we discuss what you’re suggesting after this meeting?”

    “The top management will never go for it!” (yeah, sure, you know what the top management wants!)

    “But you know, the government/bureaucracy/… is just not used to doing things like that..”

    “We can never sell this idea to the client” (but give it a try?)

    And then there are those non-verbal cues, gestures, facial expressions, exchange of glances, negative body language and all other ways to kill creative ideas!


  • Michael Wagner - November 16, 2006 at 5:08 pm

  • A great list and helpful to read everyone’s experience with idea killers.

    Have you ever read Peter Block’s book, “The Answer to How is Yes”?

    It deals with pragmatisms effect on shutting down good ideas.

    Challenging read but worth it.

    Thanks for kicking off a great list — in some odd way I have fount it therapeutics to read, grin.


  • Jonah C - November 16, 2006 at 5:59 pm

  • “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”


  • Mike-2 - November 16, 2006 at 6:24 pm

  • “Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.”


  • Paul - November 16, 2006 at 7:05 pm

  • “Before we get to this item, I think it speaks to a larger conceptual issue…”


  • owenpug - November 16, 2006 at 7:12 pm

  • “you think too much.”

    “why do all that? all i asked for was ___.”


  • Roddy - November 16, 2006 at 7:18 pm

  • What? Are you like 12?

    Hmmm. Interesting. Say, does this look nice on me?


  • Marieke Hensel - November 16, 2006 at 7:33 pm

  • Me: So what about …

    Manager: Sorry, we need something edgy.

    Me: Hmm… so what about….

    Manager: Nope… still not edgy enough.

    Me: And if we try to …

    Manager: … No… I guess it won’t come up now, let’s forget about it.


  • A new techy girl - November 16, 2006 at 7:43 pm

  • One’s I have wanted to use include

    That solution indicates you didn’t really understand the problem.

    Um, but really, that just wont work (and really it wouldn’t – just couldn’t be done and he thought it was simple and it would have required at least a year of work for a very very small return).

    Um, because that would be illegal.

    But why would we want to do that


  • David - November 16, 2006 at 7:44 pm

  • That will never pass audit!


  • sportcrazy.net - November 16, 2006 at 7:56 pm

  • “What you got there is a solution looking for a problem.”

    Had to use it yesterday too.


  • memor.ia blog - November 16, 2006 at 9:17 pm

  • [...] Berkun blog » Blog Archive » Idea killers: ways to stop ideas (tags: business startup memori.us) [...]


  • cat - November 16, 2006 at 10:54 pm

  • Dunno, I’ll need to discuss this with my wife first …


  • Brad Knowles - November 16, 2006 at 11:46 pm

  • We had this problem when I worked at AOL, and every six months we’d get new VPs in the company who all thought that they had the perfect solution for spam — just don’t accept anything that claims to come from an @aol.com address if it’s not actually coming from our machines.

    Of course, they didn’t understand the concept of mailing lists, or people legitimately sending e-mail from a different system than the one where they’d be receiving responses — think greeting cards, automated announcements from shopping sites, etc….

    Unfortunately, with the advent of SPF, it’s clear that people still haven’t learned this lesson.

    Anyway, the answer is:

    Six months ago we looked at this problem once again. Here’s the boatload of research that we did the first time we looked at this problem three years ago. Please go away and study it and make sure you fully understand everything in the file, before you come back to us and try to explain how your solution is different from the same thing that we keep hearing every six months.


  • Suzanne - November 17, 2006 at 1:12 am

  • “Why would anone use/visit/pay that?”


  • Patrick Andrews - November 17, 2006 at 1:43 am

  • I had a research supervisor who said that Science is full of people who act as fire extinguishers for new ideas. His job he said was to spread intellectual pyromania. Naturally, he stopped getting any grant money.


  • Lilx - November 17, 2006 at 3:39 am

  • The worst IMO: “Go find a job!”


  • Ian - November 17, 2006 at 4:27 am

  • “There you go making too much sense again…”

    Routinely heard when I was working in tech in a large bureaucratic organization. They usually opted to do things that made little sense, cost much more, and never got completed before the next round of executive brainstorming sent them off on some other equally ill-fated course.


  • Sean - November 17, 2006 at 6:24 am

  • “Oh, yeah, I was going to do that once upon a time.”
    (implying greater wisdom, that the idea’s not all that special and that it’s not worth doing for some reason)

    “Don’t you have enough to do?”

    “Great! Go and do it. Let us know how you get on.”
    (when it’s obvious that without the speaker’s support, it won’t happen).


  • Mike - November 17, 2006 at 8:24 am

  • “Don’t worry about that – we have smart people working on it”

    “You don’t understand our business model….”


  • Todd Derscheid - November 17, 2006 at 9:06 am

  • Let the IT people handle that.

    You shouldn’t touch those – it’s not our department.

    We have to be fair to everyone.

    That sounds like a good idea! If you can do it in-house, we’ll give you a one-time cash bonus of $500 (the outsourcing budget for the project was over $100K.)

    That’s a good seminar. Rather than sending everyone, we’ll send our lead trainer, she can re-write all the materials to fit our approach. That’s what Train-The-Trainer is all about!

    This is some kind of hacker thing, right?

    Go ahead and submit it as a change request, outlining the full impact, so we can add it to the design board.

    This sounds like more work for us on our end.

    If we do it for one person, we’ll have to do it for all of them.

    We need to present a united front – so don’t mention this to anyone.


  • Marc Gear - November 17, 2006 at 10:09 am

  • “We can put that in version 2″


  • Sanandan - November 17, 2006 at 10:21 am

  • 1. There’s no time for it !!!
    2. Its time we come up with better ideas
    3. Too many monkeys on our shoulder ( it involves a lot of work from our side)


  • Jason Luedeke - November 17, 2006 at 11:35 am

  • MARC GEAR – “we can put that in version 2″ HAHAHAHAH i hear that about everyday.


  • Josh - November 17, 2006 at 11:49 am

  • “Is that how Microsoft would do it?”


  • Oz - November 17, 2006 at 12:48 pm

  • from seth godin:

    “That will never work.”
    “… That said, the labor laws make it difficult for us to do a lot of the suggestions [you] put out. And we do live in a lawsuit oriented society.”"
    “Can you show me some research that demonstrates that this will work?”
    “Well, if you had some real-world experience, then you would understand.”
    “I don’t think our customers will go for that, and without them we’d never be able to afford to try this.”
    “It’s fantastic, but the salesforce won’t like it.”
    “The salesforce is willing to give it a try, but [major retailer] won’t stock it.”
    “There are government regulations and this won’t be permitted.”
    “Well, this might work for other people, but I think we’ll stick with what we’ve got.”
    “We’ll let someone else prove it works… it won’t take long to catch up.”
    “Our team doesn’t have the technical chops to do this.”
    “Maybe in the next budget cycle.”
    “We need to finish this initiative first.”
    “It’s been done before.”
    “It’s never been done before.”
    “We’ll get back to you on this.”
    “We’re already doing it.”


  • one - November 17, 2006 at 1:47 pm

  • ..can you bring me the ketchup? haha


  • Ben - November 17, 2006 at 2:47 pm

  • “That’s dumb.”


  • joe - November 17, 2006 at 2:55 pm

  • “…It’s actually not that simple.”

    [the most common condescension in defense of competency, if you were to see as clearly as me...]

    ” …i don’t know too much about X, but I think…”

    [exercising brute power/rank, ignorance as virtue]

    and for fun you can answer one with the other.


  • Trey Reeme - November 17, 2006 at 3:56 pm

  • “Isn’t Google already working on something like that?”


  • Beth - November 17, 2006 at 10:25 pm

  • This is what I use all the time…..
    YOU HAVE BUMPED YOUR HEAD!!
    OR
    HAVE YOU BUMPED YOUR HEAD??!!??


  • Beth - November 17, 2006 at 10:29 pm

  • I forgot about this…….

    (with an amused chuckle)….Ok….Yeah…But really….?(abruptly stop chuckle and look real serious.


  • Abha - November 17, 2006 at 11:38 pm

  • well…whose side are you on anyways? This is not the way to approach it!

    …It just does not click ! something is missing here…pl re-work

    …I dont think u got the brief right…I think you need to come back for a re-briefing

    ….you are the expert on this…but somehow it does not seem right !


  • Mike - November 18, 2006 at 1:53 am

  • When requesting a software feature: “That feature already exists, it’s in the XXX module.”

    So I try that module, find out it does something sort of close, but not what I really needed (and asked for in the feature request), and besides that, I discover the module has a major bug in it. So I file a bug report, explaining how the module isn’t working the way it should AND noting the bug.

    The response I get: “Changed to a feature request. If there’s a bug in here somewhere, please file it in another bug report.” (The bug was clearly noted).

    This from a company that said they want people to file bug reports because the software is still a beta version and they want to fix the bugs before the final release! Yeah, SURE they do…

    (By the way, classifying something as a “feature request” is their way of saying that the idea/bug report will be in a black hole somewhere for at least the next six months, then they MIGHT consider it or they might just dismiss it out of hand, depending on who reads it and how they’re feeling that day).


  • Lintball - November 18, 2006 at 8:26 am

  • “Let’s take that offline” (Meaning we will MAYBE discuss this privately where I can shoot you down without anyone else’s opinion interfering with my own opinion or anyone else hearing your idea.)
    “I don’t have the bandwidth for this”
    (This doesn’t jibe with my pre-ordained agenda.)
    “Let’s handle the low hanging fruit” (wow do I hate that expression!) meaning let’s do some quick fixes, but let the source of the problem continue)
    I suppose the intention of all these statements would be useful if they were used responsibly, but so often they are used to manipulate perception. One of the problems with jargon and business speak is that reasonable statements are commandered to avoid, or give spin.
    My most hated term is “Pro-active”. I have been both pooched for being “Pro-active” and chastised for being “not Pro-active” in the same meeting.
    We are all constantly solving problems, pro-actively, re-actively, pre-actively. That’s what we do. Political, power-seeking manager types just want to look good at the Boardroom meetings-don’t give a shit about actual function/working process. (OK I’ll call my shrink now)


  • Christina Worsing - November 18, 2006 at 8:34 am

  • “Yeah that’s great, but this has got to be done by next week”

    “If we had more time, I’d say go for it.”

    One of my patronizing favorites….
    “Did you read that in a book or something?” followed by “I’m kidding.”


  • HeartBurn Kid - November 18, 2006 at 10:18 am

  • “Corporate won’t support it.”

    I hear that one a lot. :)


  • leMel - November 18, 2006 at 10:15 pm

  • “There’s no statistical correlation between [your idea] and sales.” – used to argue against anything at all this person didn’t want to do/see, but never required to be demonstrated for their own choices.

    Another person:
    Me: [New, different idea]
    Them: “This is the first I’m hearing this.” – The implication: only present to me ideas that I’ve heard of before – if I haven’t, you are wrong.

    Same person:
    Me: “I’d like to approach it this way.”
    Them: “That’s not where we netted out.” – Implication: I already discussed it with someone more important than you – never mind who – and they pre-emptively said no to any idea you have today.

    Ugh. Just typing that made me throw up a little.


  • Gordon Milne - November 19, 2006 at 1:17 am

  • What about the concept that not all ideas are worth living for longer than the 5 seconds they took to escaper the suggesters mouth?

    If you want to brainstorm, fine. Make the rule that you can only suggest ideas during the brainstorming time and that any kind of criticism is not allowed.

    But when you get to the critical part, at least have the balls to acknowledge that not all ideas are great, and that a large number of them can be thrown out very early on. Perhaps as early as the first 15 minutes after the brainstorming cycle is over.

    I am not talking about killing ideas dead for the sake, or fun, of it. I am talking about realising that many ideas/suggestions are not all that great. We aren’t here for a certificate of attendance, we are here (for the most part) to succeed.


  • Stifling creativity | acidlabs - November 19, 2006 at 3:44 am

  • [...] I hate to sound cynical, but my feeling is that unless you’re very lucky with your clients or happen to work somewhere where creativity is the incumbent mindset (tell me where, please), you’ll hear these words far too often. [...]


  • Graefey - November 19, 2006 at 6:24 am

  • My favorites from the he front lines are (and these are actual quotes):

    “My wife won’t like that color.”

    “It’s really cute that you think that would work (followed by pat on the head).”

    “Wow, that would be cool, but Marketing says we need to produce this for 1/10th that cost.”


  • seki - November 19, 2006 at 8:47 am

  • Could somebody tell me the meaning of “Would you like a pony?”


  • Scott (admin) - November 19, 2006 at 11:52 am

  • Seki: ‘I want a pony’ is a classic childhood wish. So to say ‘would you like a pony’ means that the idea is wishful or childish.


  • Lance Morgan - November 19, 2006 at 12:06 pm

  • Really harsh sarcasm is probably the worst, and I usually deal with a lot of it.

    “Why don’t you just ask customers to buy our competitor’s product?”

    “That is a common sense approach that has no use in a government agency.”

    [second statement said only half sarcastically]

    “[X] is a great idea, but [y] is not your area of expertise. I am sure that someone has already thought of that and if it worked they would have implemented it”


  • Ken Gransbury - November 19, 2006 at 3:38 pm

  • “Well burn that bridge when we come to it!”

    (Mixed metaphor humour at your idea’s expense….. Mixed metaphors are two sayings mixed into one. Like: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” and “Let’s not burn our bridges” – two good metaphors made into a bad one.. like lets burn the idea and the bridge!)


  • mirathi - November 19, 2006 at 10:34 pm

  • the following phrase is often mumbled during staff meetings:

    “…monkeys fucking a football.”

    explanation:

    just imagine monkeys fucking a football when a project is trying to get done. got that picture in your head?


  • Kevin Lindley - November 20, 2006 at 9:50 am

  • Hmm, lovely dear. Your Dinners ready.


  • Jennie Zehmer - November 20, 2006 at 10:27 am

  • I am curious about phrases that grow ideas. . . Anybody willing to take that on?


  • Tungsten - November 20, 2006 at 1:52 pm

  • “One of our competitors did something like that once”


  • chinmay - November 21, 2006 at 5:01 am

  • sounds fine, but it’ll take too much time…


  • revy - November 21, 2006 at 8:08 am

  • “yes…but where is the ROI?”

    “You’re stupid”

    “Can we bring this to critical mass?”


  • EG - November 21, 2006 at 1:07 pm

  • “Get with a black belt and do a six sigma project on that…”


  • stampy - November 21, 2006 at 2:38 pm

  • “Get over yourself.”


  • mary js - November 22, 2006 at 3:53 am

  • “this is the sort of thing you shouldn’t waste your time with”


  • Me - November 22, 2006 at 12:37 pm

  • “Great idea, sadly this is not he right client for it.”
    The right client never appears…


  • Maria - November 23, 2006 at 1:40 am

  • In here, we’re thinking outside of the box.

    You need to eat a lot of bread (before you suggest something decent). [meaning, I have a lot to learn yet]


  • Toggy - November 23, 2006 at 4:08 am

  • Let’s sit on it for the time being.


  • Neil O'Connell - November 23, 2006 at 7:29 am

  • Who are you again? And why are you dressed like that?


  • سردال » سوبر كمبيوتر في منزلك - November 24, 2006 at 3:04 am

  • [...] طرق لقتل الأفكار، كم مرة سمعت أحدهم يقول: الفكرة لن تنجح، جربناها من قبل، مستحيل، لماذا تريد أن تفعل شيئاً مثل هذا؟ [...]


  • reid - November 26, 2006 at 3:22 pm

  • I heard these from my former CIO in my exit interview:

    “You’re too young to have any good ideas.”

    “You just don’t understand. IT has always been done this way, and it always will. There is no better way.”

    …from what I heard that CIO was unemployed for quite some time after he was laid off. :)


  • Caryn Rose - January 4, 2007 at 8:22 am

  • “That’s not your job.”


  • maol symbolisch » What Senior Management Really Means - January 15, 2007 at 1:23 am

  • [...] Michael Wade über What Senior Management Really Means, hat mich sofort an diese beiden Artikel von Scott Berkun und Seth Godin erinnert: Idea killers: ways to stop ideas und Top ways to defend the status quo. Natürlich sind Killersätze wie die folgenden nicht nur dem Senior Management überlassen, sondern jeder Projektteilnehmer kann hier “konstruktiv” Projekte töten. “That will never work.” “It’s been done before.” “It’s never been done before.” “We’ll get back to you on this.” “We’re already doing it.” [...]


  • Bits and bites from PÃ¥l Brattberg » Idea-killers - February 22, 2007 at 7:14 am

  • [...] Replying to a way old post here, but it is chock-full of real life idea-stoppers, and you are encouraged to add your own. Here are some I have encountered: Yeah, awesome! I love how you come up with new ideas all the time! Where do you get it all from? I’ll see what I can get the boss to sign up on and we’ll get right to it! [...]


  • wael - March 24, 2007 at 5:31 am

  • it will never work

    it is not your bussines

    i never heared about that before

    you could not manage it

    do not be so sure about it


  • test 07/08/2007 « Strange Kite - July 9, 2007 at 2:11 pm

  • [...] scottberkun.com » Blog Archive » Idea killers: ways to stop ideas  Annotated Mostly these are used as thought inhibitors: they don’t require any thought [...]


  • links for 2007-07-08 « toonz - July 10, 2007 at 12:37 pm

  • [...] scottberkun.com » Blog Archive » Idea killers: ways to stop ideas (tags: ideas funny) [...]


  • 110+ Resources For Creative Minds - October 24, 2007 at 10:08 am

  • [...] Idea Killers: Ways to Stop Ideas “Mostly these are used as thought inhibitors: they don’t require any thought to say. [...]


  • phil - January 28, 2008 at 3:31 am

  • the one I use the most would be:

    “Yeah… well… no.”

    ;-)


  • The Leadmill : Flowers info - May 18, 2008 at 2:02 am

  • [...] scottberkun.com » Idea killers: ways to stop ideas Last week in the creative thinking course I’m teaching at UW, we spent time listing idea killers. Statements we’ve heard, or used, that stop ideas in their [...]


  • Mark Long - February 10, 2009 at 9:57 am

  • let’s put together a committee.

    (my apologies if this one has shown up already.)


  • Manny Bonet - September 19, 2009 at 6:07 pm

  • Here are two:

    Real people have do this …

    People will never understand that …

    and finally related to one of your other blogs I’m sure you will apreciate this.

    That is just too complex …


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