Just happened to read this – http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/05/what-to-do-with-people-who-arent-going-to-go-away-quietly.html by Seth Godin. It may not apply that well to what you are asking for, but atleast in some situations, the best way to shut the nay sayers is by not fighting them.

What i am worried about is, how many ideas are we nipping in the bud because we don’t know the ROI when we start? This is why some of the commenters have suggested rapid prototyping, failing fast etc. The main reason you consider ROI is when you have a significant investment to make. But if you use rapid prototyping/fail fast pilots etc, your cost of trying ideas may be more. That way you are less likely to kill promising ideas because the originator could not come up with the ROI upfront.

Does that make sense to you? Are there other ways?

ROI to me is definitely an essential tool to give focus towards success for any project.I do not see it as an obstruction to innovation. If you focus “what will ROI of this project be “it will lead you to more focused questions towards your success.By preparing for the answers of these questions you can prepare a more robust plan with a. clear “begin with the end in mind” Somebody doing an ROI should have an open mind. It may be that we do not have the answers to all the questions that is coming up ,but that does not mean that we stop doing that project.We think of multiple channels to address the questions .

I am in training industry for quite some time now, and training is a function which apart from couple of organizations who focuses on learning as a key tool for growth ,others treat it as a cost centre. So at every step we have to think of ROI.I personally am challenged by ROI for all programs I plan. Not that my leaders ask for it i.It is something I try to start working on as I plan a program. I have seen that helps me to convince myself, when I take a call before suggesting investment for a program.

The objective of the program becomes much clearer when we focus on the ROI of the program. When we do a training need analysis we try to see if we launch this program how will I show an ROI to the sponsors .Rather we ask the requestor what improvement will you see when we plan this program for you? If it is a new program which we think is needed in the organization –we need to ask what will be the benefit, how can we show the benefit, is it measurable?(normally not ) list down the intangible benefits, how can we capture those? We need to ask what will happen if we don’t do it ?…and we need to go on…

Though in the same breath I would say it is extremely difficult.

So sometimes even when we do not see a clear ROI in the beginning we start, but we need to keep the ROI in mind.

Maybe if there is a clear guideline that all programs above XXXX amount should have a ROI plan that will help. You see what I mean I am not telling you need to have an ROI , I am telling a ROI plan should be there.

My main grouse has been that ROI gets applied incorrectly even in areas where it is not applicable. It has become a key tool of the devil’s advocate to kill promising ideas.

Yes, failing fast and cheap and moving on is spot on. We do need to figure out how to do that to test ideas. Learning from failure is also an important thing.

Thanks for those insights.