1. “From the buildings in which we live and work, to the cars we drive, or the knives and forks with which we eat, everything we use was designed to create some sort of marriage between form and
function ”.
2. The folks at IDEO state that they are not experts in any given area. But, they do claim to be experts on the process of design which they apply to the innovation of consumer products.
3. After the team of designers is brought together, told the problem, and informed they have five days to “pull it off,” what phase of the design process do they immediately engage in?
Brainstorming
4. Give two examples of what the team members did during this phase.
a. privacy blinds
b. velcro seats and pants
5. List five rules-of-thumb that IDEO employees follow when they share ideas during the brainstorming phase:
a. one conversation at a time
b. stay focused
c. encourage wild ideas
d. defer judgment
e. build on others’ ideas
6. Why should wild (and sometimes crazy) ideas be entertained during the brainstorming phase?
Wild and crazy ideas should always be entertained because it gives you points or ideas to build off of. The only way to create revolutionary ideas is through seemingly wild and crazy ones.
7. After the brainstorming phase was over, the team narrowed down the hundreds of ideas by voting for those ideas that were not only “cool” but also buildable in a short period of time. What phase of the design process is this called?
Identify criteria/constraints
8. IDEO believes that the ideas and efforts of a team will always be more successful than the planning of a lone genius.
9. Once the ideas were narrowed down and divided into categories, the group was split into four smaller teams. What phase(s) of the design process was each of these groups responsible for?
Shopping, Safety, Check Out, Finding what looking for
10. The leaders at IDEO believe that playful behavior and a fun environment are two important reasons why their employees are able to think quickly and creatively to produce innovative results.
11. Sometimes, people come up with great solutions that work by trying their ideas first, and asking for forgiveness later.
12. Design is often a process of going too far and having to take a few steps back. What phase of the design process would the critique of the four mock-ups come under?
Select an Approach
13. Upon critique of the four teams’ models, it was obvious that none of the teams had developed an optimum solution. However, the people at IDEO believe that it is important to fail often in order to succeed sooner.
14. What percentage of the entire week’s time did it take to fabricate the final prototype?
Based on a 24 hr, 5-day work week (120hrs):
The team worked 9 hrs for 4 days (36hrs) and 15 hrs for 1 day (15hrs): TOTAL hours worked = 51
51 / 120 = .425 = 42.50%
15. Instead of showering his design team with a tremendous amount of praise, what did the boss require his employees to do with their new design?
His employees were required to see what they could improve.
16. Of all the things that we are surrounded by every day, what has not been placed through the design process?
NOTHING, excluding natural resources/products, everything man-made has gone through some sort of design process.
Conclusion
1. What did you find to be the most impressive part of the team’s effort?
The team was very respectful of each other and polite. They stayed on track allowing them to be more productive.
2. What advantages are there to having a design team with members that have non-engineering backgrounds?
People with non-engineering backgrounds bring in a different perspective, more of a user/consumer point of view that may not be present in a group of people with just engineering degrees.
3. There was a point in the process where a self-appointed group of adults stepped up, stopped the ideas, and redirected the group to break up into teams. Why was this done?
The group was in the brainstorming phase, which could easily last forever, if someone doesn’t step up and direct their focus onto the next phase of design/re-design
4. At the end of the video, Dave Kelly states, “Look around. The only things that are not designed are the things we find in nature.” Can you think of anything that would contradict this statement?
I find this statement to be true. Everything man-made has gone through some form of design.
