Without great ideas, companies get stale, but too many of them can cripple your ability to get things done Dear Bob …My manager is driving me nuts.[ Also on InfoWorld: “Need to fight a bad idea? Bad idea” | Get sage advice on IT careers and management from Bob Lewis in InfoWorld’s Advice Line blog and newsletter. ] I know, I’m not alone in this. Lots of people have managers who drive them nuts. So let me tell you how mine does it.He’s a terrific guy and a very smart one. But he has a fatal flaw: He has great ideas. Brilliant ideas, if he says so himself (and he does).At least one a day. And every time he has a great idea, he tells me to stop what I’m doing so that I can work on it. It’s my top priority.Replacing yesterday’s top priority, which replaced the top priority of the day before. And so on. And so on. And so on.On the average, each of his top priorities would take a week to take care of, and that’s if I worked on nothing else. But of course, I can’t, because even though he’d protect me from harm, my other priorities, while no longer “top,” have to get done or lots of other employees would end up with nothing to do, because my work drives their work. My question: How can I politely tell my boss to stop thinking for a while so that I can catch up?– Interrupt-drivenDear I.D. … Your tale is sad but familiar. The world is filled with “idea factories” — people who have lots of great ideas but no idea of what’s required to turn a great idea into the implementation of a great idea.They don’t understand the Edison ratio: that genius consists of 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. And they’ll probably never learn it, either, because the perspiration is Someone Else’s Problem.Besides, having great ideas is fun. What can you do? Probably nothing. People who interrupt their interruptions with interruptions don’t have a problem, after all. They cause them, but don’t have them, and besides, what sort of beast would but a dampter on your boss’s boyish enthusiasm?I have only one idea for you. Luckily, it’s neither a great idea nor one that will take you a week to implement.Buy a small whiteboard and hang it on your cubicle wall. The next time your boss comes up with another brilliant idea, write it on the whiteboard, along with the date and an estimated completion date, which you tell him as you write it down. When he arrives with another brilliant idea, write it below the first one, along with the date. Point to the entry you’re working on and tell him that based on that date, tell him when you’ll be able to complete this one. And write it down. He’ll either scratch his chin, nod, and walk off with a troubled expression, or he’ll say, “Never mind that one. I want you to work on this one first.”That’s OK. Tell him when you’ll have it done, then, in front of him, line out (don’t erase) the old delivery date for the first task and write down the new one, based on your new priorities.If he tells you to scratch the old one completely because he’s changed his mind, don’t erase it. Line it out so that it’s still visible. As the board fills up and more and more dates are lined out, changed, lined out, and changed again, he just might get the picture.And if he complains, tell him you need to board to keep track of your assignments because he has so many great ideas you have a hard time remembering them all.No, don’t say that last part. It would take a stronger person than either of us to say that without it sounding sarcastic. – Bob Related contentNeed to fight a bad idea? Bad idea You can more often kill it with kindness and helpfully offering to map out just what’s needed to make it work IT Skills and TrainingCareers