IDEO CASE STUDY

A LOOK INTO THE COMPANYS UNIQUE CULTURE,

ORGANIZATION, AND PROCESS

Eva Hoerth
BIMD 481
Fall 2014

SHOW AND TELL DAY

Lisa stood in front of her peers, clutching onto a paper decorated with a variety of shapes and
curves. She proudly raised her art up high for everyone to see, and shared with the group what
it meant to her. Her smiling audience gave her a generous round of applause after she finished.

Lisa is not a six-year-old in Kindergarten. She is a thirty-one-year-old designer at IDEO, who

was standing in front of a team of several other professional designers and engineers. She was
holding up a sketch of one of her ideas for a redesign of the shopping cart. Everyone else in the
room also had the opportunity to show and tell their insights, and they worked together to
combine their ideas into one final design.

IDEO embraces the outside-of-the-box thinking that we all naturally used when we were
Kindergartners. IDEO teams are not afraid to color outside of the lines, or to shout out wild
ideas. Their mission for imaginative thinking is what makes IDEOs product designs so
successful.

THE IDEO CULTURE

Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius -Peter Skillman

DESIGN THINKING
At IDEO, employees are neither creatively nor physically confined. Wild ideas are not only
encouraged, but are actually one of IDEOs seven design principles that are posted on the walls
throughout the office (The Deep Dive). The company separates itself from the 9-5 design jobs
that confine employees at a small desk all day. In fact, its suspicious when employees are at
their desk all day, because half the time they are out doing ethnographic research that will give
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them findings that they can incorporate into their designs (The Deep Dive). This is one strategy
used within IDEOs Design Thinking approach.

Design Thinking does not rely on the eureka moment, but rather a human-centered discovery
process. Instead of constraining designers to a series of steps for design, IDEO designs within
spaces: Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation (Brown). Thinking of a design process in
terms of these spaces prevents employees from feeling as if they must design following a
uniform set of standards, resulting in less hesitation and more innovation.

EMBRACING FAILURE
David Kelley was not afraid to show ABC Nightline viewers IDEOs failed monster shoes
because failure is not deemed a setback at IDEO, but instead a source of enlightenment.
IDEO embraces failure by embedding it both explicitly and subconsciously within its culture.

On IDEOs website, they have a video series dedicated to IDEOs values: failure being one of
them (Learn from Failure). The amount of freedom that IDEO gives to employees during the
brainstorming process minimizes the fear surrounding failure. IDEO does not push for
perfection, it pushes for innovation, and this is exhibited everywhere from its brainstorming
sessions to its office space designs.

Their quantity over quality strategy during brainstorming sessions allows designers to focus
less on whether or not a design idea could actually be successful, and focus more on
developing a large archive of creative and crazy ideas, even if it means designing a privacy
case for condoms for the shopping cart (The Deep Dive). It is the pot full of wild ideas, not bland
ones, that brews IDEOs most appetizing product features. Who knows, an element of the
condom idea may just be used for future design iterations. But when a team members design
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idea does not get voted on by the team, it is not viewed as a failure, but rather one step closer
to coming up with the final product. Failure results in steps forward, not steps back, making
failure not only normal at IDEO but also valuable.

Even when it comes to the design of the office space itself, IDEO employees are given the
freedom to express their personalities without the fear of having their designs instantly turned
down. One employee did not have to think twice about hanging his bike from the ceiling, he just
went for it (The Deep Dive). It turned out that what seemed like a wonky idea turned into a
solution for optimal office space. It would have never happened if he feared his designs
potential failure.

THE IDEO ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

IDEOs lack of management is what makes its management system so effective. Everyone is
treated equally. There is a boss, but they do not have superiority over the teams ideas. Good
ideas are not based on status, meaning that any new designer or engineer on the team is just
as likely to have have a great idea than the boss who has been working for IDEO for a decade.
The boss does not make the final decision on design ideas, but rather the team works together
to vote on their favorite ones.

So what kind of effect does this have?

It eliminates any fear surrounding what the boss will think of your design, resulting in more
employees voicing unique ideaseven the wildest onesbuilding a richer pool of design
strategies to explore. Positioning everyone on the same level also makes failure less

intimidating, which allows IDEO designers to worry less about being told no and instead
devote more of their energy to jumping into brainstorming and prototyping.

THE IDEO PROCESS

Its not organized chaos, its focused chaos -Dave Kelly

THE DEEP DIVE

Walking into a room with sticky notes covering the walls and the furniture may appear frenetic to
an outsider. But that is what the IDEO brainstorming process looks like, and it is extremely
effective. The Deep Dive occurs in the earlier two phases of IDEOs product development
process, and allows designers to fully immerse themselves into the design problem at hand and
rapidly come up with potential solutions, without worrying about which ideas are right or wrong
(Thomke).

Unlike many brainstorming sessions, the Deep Dive requires brainstormers to step outside the
meeting room and experience the design problem themselves through ethnographic research.
Pictures and videos are gathered from their ethnographic excursions and taken back to the
office, where everyone discusses their findings. Because of this in-depth research prior to the
brainstorming session, IDEO designers are able to work together to craft solutions to each
problem they witness in the real world.

The Deep Dive also stands out because of its rapid nature. Ideas are quickly presented,
reviewed shortly after, and prototyped right after that. This fast-paced brainstorming
environment prevents IDEO designers from getting too in depth on their ideas and from
wandering away from the problems at hand.
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LET THE PROTOTYPING BEGIN

At IDEO, prototyping is not just a way to turn ideas into tangible objects. It serves as a
communication platform for the IDEO team, clients, and end users. IDEO teams frequently meet
with clients during the design process to ensure that there are no overlooked issues with cost
and time. Prototypes serve as a visual and interactive explanation of the teams ideas, which
makes it easier for clients to understand what exactly the product could look like and how it
could function. Through rapid prototyping, everyone is left on the same page, allowing design
teams to get early feedback on their designs, while also making clients feel more involved in the
design process.

These prototypes do not have to be thorough to communicate design ideas. IDEO embraces the
three Rs of prototyping: Rough, Rapid, and Right (Thomke). The faster ideas are prototyped,
the faster the team can get feedback on their designs and make any changes for future
iterations. The prototyping process ties back to one of IDEOs biggest values: failure. It is better
to have a prototype fail rather than the final product.

WORKING AT IDEO: A DESIGNERS DREAM!

The IDEO work environment seems almost too good to be true. The company discourages titles
in order to maintain a sense of equality. There have been too many situations where I have
been talked over during team meetings by someone with a higher status than me, or other times
my ideas are shut down on the spot. At IDEO, however, each idea is valued, and introverts are
always given an equal chance to share their thoughts.

I strongly believe that employees should have the power to shape their work environment,
rather than letting the work environment shape them; as long as things do not get too chaotic or

unprofessional, of course. I and many other people think more creatively when we feel
comfortable. If the environment surrounding us is bland or uninviting, then our creative flow is
disrupted.

It is a dream of mine to work for a design consultancy just like IDEO. I have recently researched
local companies, such as Frog Design and Fell Swoop, to explore internship opportunities for
later this year. I want to work for a company that takes the human-centered approach to design
while also fostering a work environment that allows its employees to freely contribute ideas
without the fear of being right or wrong. I want to work somewhere that adopts the freedom and
creativity of the Kindergarten classroom; where my team and I will not be afraid to color outside
of the lines.

WORKS CITED

Brown, Tim. "Design Thinking." Harvard Business Review (2008). Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
"Learn from Failure ." IDEO. N.p., June. Web. 11 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ideo.com/life-atideo/item/learn-from-failure>.
Thomke, Stefan, and Ashok Nimgade. "IDEO Product Development." Harvard Business (2007).
Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
The Deep Dive . ABC News Nightline , 1999. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.