What's kniht? That was the first question posed to planners of a massive IT restructuring at the federal government's largest civilian agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs. Agency officials, along with academics and psychologists, sought a new way of thinking about IT. They wrote a blueprint to make the department's troubled IT maze an integrated operation with interchangeable parts.

The planning group was instructed to "climb a mountain." They were given hiking vests and caps with the word "kniht" on them--that's "think" spelled backwards. "It led to the best IT governance model and strategic plan in the federal government," says Leon Kappelman, the head of the IS research center at the University of North Texas, which is leading the implementation.