A great article from the The McKinsey Quartely (2008, No. 4): Hayagreeva Rao and Robert Sutton, both at Stanford University, discuss “The Ergonomics of Innovation” (PDF). They focus on the example of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s successful 100,000 Lives campaign, which brought together 3,000 hospitals to save 100,000 patients from dying due to preventable errors. The IHI case shows that

innovations spread quickly when organizations focus relentlessly on selecting and spreading ideas in ways that ease the burden of thought and action for everyone involved. This mindset differs from the one that burdens most organizations, where innovation is seen as difficult, expensive, and protracted. The IHI staff’s ergonomics-of-innovation mind-set focused on making things easier and cheaper for everyone, including the staff itself.