The Ops4Less model of IT Operations cost control:
P A I D ™
People
Get the right people, get the people right
□ Recruitment
□ Culture
□ Motivation
□ Evaluation
Activity
Do the right things, do things right
□ Planning
□ Process
□ Measurement
□ Improvement
Investment
Spend to save money, save money on spending
□ Technology
□ Services
□ Suppliers
□ Projects
Dealing
Manage the business, the business of managing money
□ Funding
□ Service
□ Outsourcing
□ Revenue














Made in New Zealand 
Comments
Define Successful?
I've observed (in the few stodgy corporates I've work in) that the most "successful" are those who behave like heroes: leaping over buildings in a single bound, side-stepping that bureaucratic Change Process and saving the day with an undocumented super-hero solution.
Awesome! Ticker parades, marching bands, big bonuses and promotions... who doesn't want to be a Hero?
hero culture
A fair point. We have to look at the contributions of "successful' people to see if it is worth bottling or not.
You are quite right that the hero culture is usually a negative in today's professional IT world. We want people who deliver results consistently, not individual heroics that are usually required to deal with a crisis and/or someone else's screw-up.