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宽松t恤R E V:A P R I L26,2007
S T E F A N T H O M K E
A S H O K N I M G A D E,M.D.
IDEO Product Development
“I should have had café latte,” thought Dennis Boyle as he was sipping his strong espresso at Peet’s coffeehou, just around the corner from his office. Many designers and engineers from his company, IDEO, one of the world’s largest and arguably most successful product development firms, often gathered here and talked. It was late summer 1998 in Palo Alto, the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, and Boyle gathered his thoughts for a meeting with David Kelley, the head and founder of IDEO.
Boyle had just led his group at IDEO through the development of 3Com’s Palm V hand-held computer,
which designers and managers at both firms already considered a successful product with very large commercial potential. Now he was being asked to design the competing Visor product by the very same individuals he had worked with previously. The only twist was that the clients themlves now worked at Handspring, a new venture who goal was to come out with a fully compatible, slightly smaller and less expensive palm-size computer that could easily add functionality. 3Com had even licend out operating software to Handspring.
Although working on the Palm V challenged IDEO’s engineering skills, working with Handspring promid to challenge the very manner in which it operated. It operated on the principle of getting all team members to “fail often to succeed sooner”—a creative process that often looked to outsiders like “spinning wheels.” The process usually generated a fountain of absurd-appearing but innovative ideas before the final answer and product miraculously came through a process of discipline and fast decision-making.
The IDEO philosophy melded Californian iconoclasm with a genuine respect for new ideas and invention. For over two decades, the firm contributed to the design of thousands of new products ranging from the computer mou to the stand-up toothpaste dispenr. Along the way, it had also become the largest award-winning design firm in the world (e Exhibit 2). IDEO came to national pr
ominence when ABC’s Nightline illustrated its innovation process by showing its designers re-engineer a decades-old icon, the supermarket shopping cart, in just five days.
Now Boyle had to decide whether he should suggest to Handspring’s management to add more time to a development schedule that was less than half of what it took to design the stunningly beautiful and innovative Palm V. Boyle’s group feared that an overly aggressive development schedule would require them to bypass many of the early development stages that the firm was ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Professors Stefan Thomke and Ashok Nimgade, M.D. prepared this ca. HBS cas are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cas are not intended to rve as endorments, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.
Copyright © 2000 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to www.hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ud in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwi—without the permission of Harvard Business School.alphabet
600-143 IDEO Product Development particularly good at and, at the end, deliver a product that could be so much better if they just had more time.ugh
History of IDEO
[David Kelley] and the company he heads, IDEO of Palo Alto, has designed more of the things at our fingertips than practically anyone el in the past 100 years, with the possible exception of Thomas Edison.
—San Francisco Examiner1—
It was desperation caud by recalcitrant furniture during a college move that drove David Kelley to enter the Carnegie-Mellon campus workshop in arch of a saw. The sights and sounds of the strange new world captured the fancy of the electrical engineering major from Ohio. For a while, in fact, he considered switching majors to fine arts but stayed with engineering. The internal switch that flickered on, however, would lead Kelley to leave engineering jobs at Boeing and NCR to embark on the journey that, according to Fortune Magazine, would make him “one of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley.” But the first thing Kelley would ever actually design of conquence was a telephone that could only ring one number: his own. He prented this to his c
ollege girlfriend.
In 1975, Kelley joined the Stanford University program in product design. The were heady days with Kelley finding that “In Silicon Valley everything was new. . . there were no preconceived notions.”2 Through part-time consulting experience, Kelley found to his surpri that most consulting firms consisted of specialists, with technological companies lacking clear access to a general product development firm. In 1978, amid the Silicon Valley boom, Kelley gave up writing his Ph.D. thesis. (Nonetheless, even without a formal Ph.D. he would become a professor at Stanford University.)
school怎么读Kelley went on to form and run David Kelley Design for the next decade. IDEO started in 1991 when David Kelley Design merged with two companies: ID Two, led by renowned designer Bill Moggridge, and Matrix, started by Mike Nuttall. The name IDEO came to life when Bill Moggridge scanned his dictionary for suitable names and liked “ideo-“ (a Greek word which meant “idea”) as it formed the foundation of many important combined words such as ideo logy and ideo gram. Kelley, who company was larger than the other two combined, took over as chief executive of the new firm.
The merger brought under one umbrella all rvices client companies needed to design, develop, an
d manufacture new products: mechanical and electrical engineering, industrial design, ergonomics, information technology, prototype machining, and even cognitive psychology. IDEO thus pioneered the design version of “concurrent engineering”—a fusion of art and engineering to produce aesthetically pleasing products that were also technically competent.3 As an example of the utility of concurrent engineering, consider how the decision to add air vents to a computer to prevent overheating might detract from the product’s streamlined aesthetics if the designers and engineers failed to work together cloly.
1 R. Garner, San Francisco Examiner, May 23, 1994, p. B-1.
2 L. Watson, “Palo Alto Product Designer Finds Business Booming,” The San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 1992, p. C3..
3 J. Lew, “Of mice and Miatas: “Design shops shape our lives,” San Francisco Examiner, August 12, 1992, p. 4.
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IDEO Product Development 600-143 The hardest places to practice concurrent engineering, quite u
nderstandably, were in devices involving compact and complex design such as automotive components, medical instruments, and small computing devices where small changes would have often unforeeable ripple effects on components far removed. IDEO, with its equal emphasis on design and engineering, took up many of the challenges. In contrast, its leading competitors historically had stresd industrial design over engineering.
Major IDEO clients included Apple Computer, AT&T, Samsung, Philips, Amtrak, Steelca, Baxter International, and NEC Corp. IDEO’s thirst for variety led it to complete thousands of projects, including 50 projects for Apple Computer (including its first mou), ski goggles, the Avocet Vertech Skiers watch, and a large variety of medical instrumentation. The company also participated in Hollywood film projects, creating scale-model submarines for “The Abyss” and a 25-foot mechanical whale for “Free Willy”. In the 1990s, IDEO won more industry awards than any other design firm worldwide (e Exhibits 2 and 4).
In the late 1990s,IDEO employed over 300 staff and maintained design centers in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Palo Alto, Grand Rapids, New York, Milan, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo. The sites were chon for their stimulating locations. Although all centers operated independently, eking business locally, they exchanged a high volume of e-mail and often shared talent as needed. Over t
he years, while his employees focud on designing client products, Kelley increasingly found himlf designing and re-designing IDEO. “I’m more interested in the methodology of design . . .,” according to Kelley. “I’m the person who builds the stage rather than performs on it.”
Part of this stage-building involved studying the IDEO environment in new ways. Instead of merely relying on employee surveys, the company also studied workplace interactions through suspended video cameras in order to optimize office design.4 IDEO also sought to improve its own design process by reviewing all completed projects. According to Kelley, “We pick the things each client does well, and assimilate them into our methodology. We’re not good at innovating becau of our flawless intellects, but becau we’ve done thousands of products, and we’ve been mindful.”5 With corporate downsizing of the 1990s, IDEO and other design firms flourished as companies outsourced more design projects. IDEO’s fees generally ran from as little as $40,000 to over $1 million, depending on the scope of the project. The privately held company remained tightlipped about revenues, but in 1996 was known to have revenues of $40-$50 million. Revenues came from about 30% each in medical, consumer, and telecommunications/computers with an additional 10% from industrial products.6
IDEO came to national prominence when it allowed ABC to televi a gment showing its designers
meeting the challenge of re-engineering the commonplace shopping cart—a virtually unchanged icon for the past veral decades, despite its creaky and obdurate wheels and often unwieldy basket—in just five days. The IDEO design replaced the traditional large basket with a system of baskets that allowed consumers to u the shopping cart as a “ba camp” for shopping. Innovative new wheels allowed greater maneuverability in the store. Hooks on the frame would
4 P. Roberts, P, “Live! From your office! It’s…,” Fast Company, October 1999.
5 T.S. Perry, “Designing a Culture for Creativity,” Rearch Technology Management, March 1995, v. 38(2), pp. 14-17.
6 R. Ronberg, “By design, the firms take on other companies' products,” The Boston Globe, May 11, 1997, p. C1.
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600-143 IDEO Product Development allow for bagged items to be transported out to the parking lot. The lack of a central basket removed much of the incentive for stealing the shopping carts.
Design Philosophy and Culture
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth ten thousand.
—IDEO innovation principle Central to IDEO’s design philosophy was the role of prototyping. According to Tom Kelley, general manager and David Kelley’s brother, “we prototype more than our clients suspect, and probably more than our competitors.” Frequent prototyping rved as the most important way for his company to communicate with clients, marketers, experts, and end urs. Prototypes ensured everyone was imagining the same design during discussions about a product. All IDEO offices had shops staffed by highly skilled machinists to rapidly produce both simple and sophisticated prototypes. Quite often, according to Whitney Mortimer, a Harvard MBA who joined the firm in the late ‘90s, “the real ‘aha’s’ in product development occur here.”
But in the early stages, perfecting a sophisticated model was considered a waste of time. “You learn just as much from a model that’s wrong as you do from one that’s right,” according to engineer Steve Vassallo. Thus, designers and engineers themlves created early prototypes from readily available material such as cardboard, foamcore, Legos, and Erector ts.
anarchismRapid prototyping at IDEO followed the three “R’s”: “Rough, Rapid, and Right!” The final R, “Right,” referred to building veral models focud on getting specific aspects of a product right. For exampl
e, to design a telephone receiver, an IDEO team carved dozens of pieces of foam and cradled them between their heads and shoulders to find the best shape for a handt. “You’re not trying to build a complete model of the product you’re creating,” per Vassallo. “You’re just focusing on a small ction of it.”7
Quick and dirty prototyping allowed for a greater number of iterations. “By our method,” David Kelley claimed, “you could never design a VCR you couldn’t program. [Rearchers at larger companies] are afraid of looking bad to management, so they do an expensive, sleek prototype, but then they become committed to it before they really know any of the answers. You have to have the guts to create a straw man.” At IDEO, the straw men were repeatedly knocked down, a process which left IDEO’s staffers with thick skin. “Failure,” Kelley felt, “is part of the culture. We call it enlightened trial and error.”8闪电侠第三季17集
In an allied process, IDEO sought to generate as many ideas as possible early in the design process through almost daily brainstorming ssions. A much-ud paraphrad quotation from Einstein epitomized the playfulness of the early stage: “If at first an idea does not sound absurd, then there is no hope for it.” The entire process rembled a funnel, with veral ideas at the top, three or four at the ba, and only one making it all the way through. People were generally not upt if their idea di
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d not become the definitive solution since the act of clipping off ideas brought the entire team clor to the solution—similar to legendary baball batter Babe Ruth who outlined his strategy once 7 T.S. Perry, “Designing a Culture for Creativity.” Rearch Technology Management, March 1995, v. 38(2) pp. 14-17.
8 Ibid.
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IDEO Product Development 600-143 as, “Every strike I make gets me clor to a home run.” In addition, discarded ideas were archived
and sometimes kept for possible future products.
Sometimes in the cour of a project, when progress appeared to come to a standstill, the leader could call for what has come to be known as a Deep Dive® approach. In this process, the team would focus intensively for an entire day to generate a large number of creative concepts, weed out weak ideas, and start prototyping bad on the top handful of solutions.4级分数线
you are welcomeTo an outsider, however, the entire process could appear messy. “The nature of the organization is v
ery much like David Kelley’s mind,” says Arnold Wasrman who was part of IDEO’s innovation strategy group. “Both are riously playful and messy. And both are comfortable with confusion, incomplete information, paradox, irony, and fun for its own sake.”9
The inherent inability to precily predict the innovation process’ outcome, time and cost made it extremely important to keep clients involved. At the beginning of a new project, IDEO would submit cost and time estimates to potential clients. As a project unfolded and designers came up with innovative ideas and concepts, project managers had to ensure that tho concepts were within agreed upon budgets and timelines. However, designers often aimed for perfection which could potentially lead to cost and time overruns – also known as “creeping elegance” in design circles – and clients needed to be aware of tho opportunities for further innovation and the cost and time involved. As a result, IDEO required very frequent client meetings where all tho issues would be discusd.
After a visit to the company’s Palo Alto office, business writer Tom Peters likened IDEO to a veritable playground. In his words, “IDEO is a zoo. Experts of all flavours co-mingle in offices that look more like cacophonous kindergarten classrooms. . . . Walk into the offices of IDEO design in Palo Alto, California, immediately you’ll be caught up in the energy, buzz, creative disarray and sheer lunacy of
it all. Breach the reception area at XYZ Corp . . . and you’ll think you’ve walked into the city morgue.”10
In keeping with its playroom atmosphere, on Mondays all company branches held “show-and-tells” where designers and engineers could showca their latest insights and products. Also, of increasing importance to designers was IDEO’s “Tech Box,” the company’s giant “shoebox” for curiosities and interesting gadgets meant to inspire innovators. Designers could rummage through the contents and play with the switches, buttons, and odd materials in arch of new us. The Tech Box included some 300 objects ranging from an archery bow bad on pulleys to heat pipes that would turn uncomfortably hot almost the moment they were placed in a cup of hot water.
The culture itlf reflected the importance that management attached to creating a democracy of ideas. Most design firms had less than two dozen employees. G rowing IDEO to 300 employees involved keeping each unit small. Thus, growth was achieved by budding out smaller design studios whenever one appeared to grow too large. Much quoted was David Kelley’s confident asrtion in 1990 that “This company will never be larger than 40 people.”11 Following an amoeboid growth
9 R. Garner, San Francisco Examiner, May 23, 1994, p. B-1.
10 T. Peters, “The Peters Principles,” Forbes ASAP, September 13, 1993, p. 180.
11 B. Katz, “A leadership style,” Perspective, Fall 1999.
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