I must admit that when I read the 'Do Only What YOu Love' Live-with for this week, I was doubtful that this was possible. Julie's suggestion about approaching the things we "must do" from a new perspective helped.
Last night, I applied it to running. I haven't been running regularly for the last month and my body has forgotten why I might ever like to do so again. Yesterday, I decided to skip over the doing part and focus on how great it would feel once I was finished. As I put on my shoes, I made a list of all the positive things I would feel when I returned - accomplishment, invigoration, healthiness. Believe it or not, it worked. The new perspective didn't just make the run go by faster, it made the experience of doing it, more enjoyable. It has even made me look forward to running again this week. Who knew???
Here are some thoughts about IDEO First I think that we reached two conclusions in class, about what is driving IDEO; 1. IDEO is driven by the culture 2. IDEO is driven by a special process/“way of designing new product” Although the documentary clearly indicated that then I would like to challenge the last conclusion. First I will use some statement/quotes from a previous IDEO employee. He has been working for IDEO for 9 years in development. First is IDEO home page: “We can't tell you about our "process" because we don't have one.” http://www.ideo.com/thinking/approach/ I think it is interesting that there is a discrepancy between the documentary and the home page. I have put in some interesting quotes from you of my interviews with this “IDEO person” and although that I can share this, but I would like if it could be taken of the blog in the end of the semester. They are put up a little chaotic, so my arguments are not build up, but it gives further insight to IDEO.
“I feel very good, if I pass the ball to him and he passes it even further and a third person scores the goal. This is the mentality at IDEO. It is a culture. The people have to be comfortable with themselves as designers, to do this.” XXXXXX
How to do a brainstorm at IDEO 1) Defer judgment; 2) Encourage wild ideas; 3) Build on the ideas of others; 4) Stay focused on the topic; 5) One conversation at a time; 6) Be visual; 7) Go for quantity. • IDEO creates 50-75 ideas in the brainstorm. • Evaluating afterwards. • Ice cream shakes, or sweets is good • You need good vibes. • Between 1:30 or 2pm, afterwards people start getting sleepy. • It is perfectly fine to have brainstorm at lunch, but you need to provide pizza or other “easy to eat” food. • You need a moderator • You would invite the right people
“Having a rigid spec, limits creativity” XXXXX
Two questions and two sharp answers “Is IDEO a design or technology company?” “They are both” XXXXX “What is most important when you work at IDEO, to be creative or to have a strong technical expertise?” “You are addressing the problem the wrong way. You are trying to categorize. Most IDEO folks think of themselves, as this is my specialty but I can contribute in any discipline, as in Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Human Factors, etc.. You will not have a company with the highest expertise in the world. But you will have a company with the best collection of people that can cooperate creatively… We do not hire Ph.D.s at IDEO… IDEO is a product development company, not a technology company” XXXXX CLARIFICATION: I’m using two meanings for the word “technology company” in both questions, thus it sounds like I’m contradicting myself. In the first question, I’m implying that it is both a design (Industrial Design, Branding, User Interface, Human Factors etc.), as well as a technology company (Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering). This is “proven” by IDEO employees being listed on a rather large number of utility patents. In the second question, the meaning of technology company is an entity, like XXXX or XXX, which has a unique, deep and specific domain knowledge, as XXXX points out below. XXXX is capable of introducing entire new concepts in the field of XX. XXXXX does a lot of “R” in R&D (Research and Development). 4 of the engineers that we have are probably one of top 50 people in the world in their respective fields. For example, one of XXXXX employees was a multiple record holder in long-range terrestrial transmission. IDEO does not do that much Research, but it is quite comfortable in taking the latest research from a lab, and incorporating them into a consumer product. I hope this clarifies the contradiction. “If you have the resources, the right process, the right people, the right environment and the right culture, that will lead to innovation” “You can either have good documentation else the new engineer needs to work very closely to the original people. This is strictly a management problem and has nothing to do with design and nothing to do with innovation.” “Innovation comes from the people” “Innovation is like art, you can’t manage it” I think that the last quote say something about very innovative companies, since innovation might rather be a cultural than process oriented.
2 comments:
I must admit that when I read the 'Do Only What YOu Love' Live-with for this week, I was doubtful that this was possible. Julie's suggestion about approaching the things we "must do" from a new perspective helped.
Last night, I applied it to running. I haven't been running regularly for the last month and my body has forgotten why I might ever like to do so again. Yesterday, I decided to skip over the doing part and focus on how great it would feel once I was finished. As I put on my shoes, I made a list of all the positive things I would feel when I returned - accomplishment, invigoration, healthiness. Believe it or not, it worked. The new perspective didn't just make the run go by faster, it made the experience of doing it, more enjoyable. It has even made me look forward to running again this week. Who knew???
Here are some thoughts about IDEO
First I think that we reached two conclusions in class, about what is driving IDEO;
1. IDEO is driven by the culture
2. IDEO is driven by a special process/“way of designing new product”
Although the documentary clearly indicated that then I would like to challenge the last conclusion.
First I will use some statement/quotes from a previous IDEO employee. He has been working for IDEO for 9 years in development.
First is IDEO home page:
“We can't tell you about our "process" because we don't have one.” http://www.ideo.com/thinking/approach/
I think it is interesting that there is a discrepancy between the documentary and the home page.
I have put in some interesting quotes from you of my interviews with this “IDEO person” and although that I can share this, but I would like if it could be taken of the blog in the end of the semester. They are put up a little chaotic, so my arguments are not build up, but it gives further insight to IDEO.
“I feel very good, if I pass the ball to him and he passes it even further and a third person scores the goal. This is the mentality at IDEO. It is a culture. The people have to be comfortable with themselves as designers, to do this.” XXXXXX
How to do a brainstorm at IDEO
1) Defer judgment;
2) Encourage wild ideas;
3) Build on the ideas of others;
4) Stay focused on the topic;
5) One conversation at a time;
6) Be visual;
7) Go for quantity.
• IDEO creates 50-75 ideas in the brainstorm.
• Evaluating afterwards.
• Ice cream shakes, or sweets is good
• You need good vibes.
• Between 1:30 or 2pm, afterwards people start getting sleepy.
• It is perfectly fine to have brainstorm at lunch, but you need to provide pizza or other “easy to eat” food.
• You need a moderator
• You would invite the right people
“Having a rigid spec, limits creativity” XXXXX
Two questions and two sharp answers
“Is IDEO a design or technology company?”
“They are both” XXXXX
“What is most important when you work at IDEO, to be creative or to have a strong technical expertise?”
“You are addressing the problem the wrong way. You are trying to categorize. Most IDEO folks think of themselves, as this is my specialty but I can contribute in any discipline, as in Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Human Factors, etc.. You will not have a company with the highest expertise in the world. But you will have a company with the best collection of people that can cooperate creatively… We do not hire Ph.D.s at IDEO… IDEO is a product development company, not a technology company” XXXXX
CLARIFICATION: I’m using two meanings for the word “technology company” in both questions, thus it sounds like I’m contradicting myself. In the first question, I’m implying that it is both a design (Industrial Design, Branding, User Interface, Human Factors etc.), as well as a technology company (Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering). This is “proven” by IDEO employees being listed on a rather large number of utility patents. In the second question, the meaning of technology company is an entity, like XXXX or XXX, which has a unique, deep and specific domain knowledge, as XXXX points out below. XXXX is capable of introducing entire new concepts in the field of XX. XXXXX does a lot of “R” in R&D (Research and Development). 4 of the engineers that we have are probably one of top 50 people in the world in their respective fields. For example, one of XXXXX employees was a multiple record holder in long-range terrestrial transmission. IDEO does not do that much Research, but it is quite comfortable in taking the latest research from a lab, and incorporating them into a consumer product. I hope this clarifies the contradiction.
“If you have the resources, the right process, the right people, the right environment and the right culture, that will lead to innovation”
“You can either have good documentation else the new engineer needs to work very closely to the original people. This is strictly a management problem and has nothing to do with design and nothing to do with innovation.”
“Innovation comes from the people”
“Innovation is like art, you can’t manage it”
I think that the last quote say something about very innovative companies, since innovation might rather be a cultural than process oriented.
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