The historical literature suggests that crises are periods of significant innovation. Joel Mokyr and Naomi Lamoreaux have documented the rise of important innovations like the incandescent light, the steam turbine, and the transformer during the Long Depression. Economic historian Alexander Field finds the 1930s to be the "most technologically progressive" decade of the 20th century.

As an industry, we’ve mostly figured out that if we don’t want content problems to sabotage our web projects, we have to plan ahead. Whether we’re creating the content with our clients or helping them to create it on their own, we know that it’s important to hire a writer or editor if the project lacks one, to write content with real humans in mind, and to design content for reading. We know—or we should know, by now—that we must approach each page of website content with a clear set of goals. And yet, even knowing all these things, we face dozens of complexities when it’s time to conjure up content from the ruins of an old website or a shiny new set of empty wireframes.

Personally I believe IE6 should have been dead already, but if you insist on serving for it, here is a good solution.

1. Design for better browsers, then design alternative solutions to handle IE6 bugs?
2. Write a remedial IE6 stylesheet to address layout issues?
3. Use JavaScript to bootstrap CSS support in IE6?
4. Make your site look exactly the same in IE6 as in any other browser?
5. Develop to better browsers and spend no development time or testing for IE6?
6. Block IE6 users from seeing your site's styles?

As Jeremy wrote last year.

All of these different methods for dealing with IE6 demonstrate that there's no one single answer that works for everyone. This isn't a binary issue. There is no Boolean answer. Instead, there's a sliding scale of support:

Good work requires focus.

Focus might mean restricting your access to e-mail, IM, Twitter, and Facebook, or turning off your cell phone. Modern communication conveniences provide a valuable social connection to the outside world, but they can also destroy concentration and clarity.

The failures of risk management that led to the financial crisis need innovative solutions, say authors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble. For that, we need the full passion and unbridled optimism of our business leader.

What old ideas, products, services, habits, assumptions, excuses, will you let go of to make room for whatever you want your future to be?

Scott Berkun gives his 3 (ok 6) steps for getting started:

1. I’d recommend talking to your team, individually, about what things on the project are most frustrating or could be improved.
2. In each conversation ask for their advice on what you can do, and also what they are willing to do or try.
3. Based on your conversations, propose one simple change that has the best odds of both being accepted, and improving things. If the team has lots of conflicts, pick something very small. If there is too much dissension, pick something you can do with just one or two others.
4. Then make the change.
5. If things go poorly go back to #1.
6. If things go well, propose the next thing from #3.

But without talking to your team, and without establishing credibility and leadership, no book, degree, or IQ, will be of any use to you as a project manager. Start with your team first and earn their trust.

“…it’s finally time to take IE6 behind the shed and shoot it.”