One of the reasons that crazy projects like the Red Balloon Challenge can succeed inside DARPA is that there is no career ladder. Project managers are hired for fixed terms, typically between two and four years (their employee badges are printed with an expiration date). DARPA’s structure has eliminated the benefit of spending any time on politics, of trying to sound smart in meetings and put down your colleagues by highlighting the warts in their nutty loonshots so that you can curry favor and win promotions.
