The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley

Chapters 5 & 7: Reading Response

 

 
It’s funny that Tom Kelley mentioned t-shirts… We had joked about making a take Action team shirt while working on the asthma CD. We thought when we presented it, we could all run in the room clapping and yelling… and wearing a matching t-shirt. All I can say is… gosh we are awesome.

I love the IDEO way of looking at things. I think that it’s so admirable that they are sharing their way with the world. It’s a bit interesting don’t you think? To be so successful…and to share so much about the reasoning behind your success? It makes me believe that they really do care about changing the world because here they are sharing their success with us, hoping it could rub off. (Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it’s some pinky and the brain-esque scheme to take over the world… but I have my doubts).

“A hot team starts with a clear goal and a serious deadline”… I feel like as designers we will always have this rule aced. It always seems that our clients come to us with something, we ultimately shape and mold the goal, and the deadline is always a week too soon! But it does motivate us and it does seem to work. I think as students we will find the deadlines coming faster in the real world… At my internship with WVU they expected us to keep up with those who were working 40 hours a week. It was a hard lesson for me to learn at first.

I wonder if this could backfire. Have you ever been in a situation where the deadline set was bogus? It drives me battier than bats honing in on the bat signal. I guess where my thinking lies here is that I’d rather know the REAL actual end deadline… and have whomever is leader set deadlines for our progress… rather than lie and say the whole thing has to be done three weeks early. It’s just like the section “On A Mission”… the team was so inspired by the project itself that they just happened to create a prototype a week before the deadline. They were driven by the challenge and by passion… not fear. 

A great team is infused with purpose and personality. I love how at the end of the chapter Kelley mentions 8 characters to keep on your team. I think it’s likely that we want people similar to us to be on our team. What I think is unique about IDEO is they don’t do that. David Kelley said on the nightline special himself that he has to hire people who he doesn’t agree with. I think though that this works for IDEO because they are embracing the differences… they don’t hope to mold you. Their system is set up to have a diverse crowd… not a similar crowd. I think this way of working/thinking would be hard for a team to use if they weren’t working in a fashion similar to IDEO. (This is why IDEO is so unlike the average run of the mill corporation.)

At IDEO they’ve expelled the myth of the “loan genius” and Kelley even provides examples of figures in history whom are thought to be “lone geniuses” yet were a team of individuals. A team of individuals who were totally dedicated to achieving their end result. Enthusiasm.

It still seems to me that IDEO reeks of fun. Or should I say keeping it light. Kelley writes that during the ridiculous deadline for the nightline special, the teams still let off steam by joking and playing around.

Their groups are also irreverent and nonhierarchical. Everyone is there because they have a skill level and a level of thinking that is expected of them. The nonhierarchical theme is also carried out in the environment at IDEO. Kelley used the words “elastic” and “fluid” when describing their offices.

It’s also of great service to the teams to have a great working environment. The comparison to a workspace to a greenhouse couldn’t be more perfect. Recently I was given my own space as a graduate assistant. The fact that it was mine to put up what I want has made it easier for me to “stay put”. Where as normally I find myself wanting to flee the lab… now I enjoy staying all day (as much as one can possibly enjoy school work that is).

I think body language of a space can say a lot. Last fall when 4 of us traveled to Pittsburgh to interview several designers for advice, you could really read the “body language” of each place. It’s something I think any designer looking for a new job should remember to consider. As Kelley mentioned, it can tell you a lot about the lifestyle you would lead at this particular place.

The office should be a team space. Decisions should be team-like decisions. No one wants to walk into their office one day to find that all their desks are in the open, or walled up (Kelley’s example from the Chiat/Day ad agency would be a nightmare for me). Everyone having their own space is great, but there is no one law at IDEO.

Tell a story… like HP preserving their legacy of their company… why not tell the story of your company today. I think that is the great think about the hall entering Studio 2453. Currently, we have up case studies from recently completed projects. Throughout the year different things go up and down so that students and visitors can get a feel for the scope of what we do.

I too am a believer in making your junk sing. I think it was my sophomore or junior year when I was working on a font poster. I was extremely interested in the golden rule and Eve brought in a seashell for me. It was such a beautiful thing I don’t believe my poster did the font or the shell justice but it helped me gain an understanding of the concept. Holding it in my hands and studying the object one on one… the shell made the concept tangible. Like the tech box, the shell was “a place to let the sand run through our toes and catch a few waves.” Pg 145.