Case Study
Questions 1. How would you characterize IDEO's process, organization, culture, and management?
Process
IDEO's product development process follows several phases. And each phase contains several IDEO's core skills that are Observation, Brainstorming, Prototyping and Implementation. The five phases of the product development process and applied core skills are described in the following table (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Product Development Process Phase | Process | Core Skills | Description | Phase 0 | Understand/Observe | Observation/Brainstorming | Seeks to understand the client's business and immersed itself in finding out about the feasibility of a product. | Phase I | Visualize/Realize | Brainstorming/Prototyping | Ends up choosing a product direction based on ideas, technologies, and market perceptions. | Phase II | Evaluating/Refining | Prototyping | Enhances design prototypes through testing functional prototypes. | Phase III | Implement/Detailed Engineering | Implementation | Completes product design and verified that the final product worked and could be manufactured. | Phase IV | Implement/Manufacturing Liaison | Implementation | Ensured smooth product release to manufacturing as the product moved from the shop floor to the client's factory lines. |
Prototyping and brainstorming are the most important core skills of IDEO. The role of prototyping in phases I and II is central to IDEO's design philosophy, more than their clients can imagine, and probably more than their competitors. Frequent prototyping serve as the most important way for IDEO to communicate with clients, marketers, experts, and end users. Prototypes ensure everyone was imagining the same design during discussions about a product. All IDEO offices have shops staffed by highly skilled machinists to rapidly produce both simple and sophisticated prototypes.
If prototyping was central to IDEO’s design process, brainstorming of phase 0 and I was central to its
Process
IDEO's product development process follows several phases. And each phase contains several IDEO's core skills that are Observation, Brainstorming, Prototyping and Implementation. The five phases of the product development process and applied core skills are described in the following table (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Product Development Process Phase | Process | Core Skills | Description | Phase 0 | Understand/Observe | Observation/Brainstorming | Seeks to understand the client's business and immersed itself in finding out about the feasibility of a product. | Phase I | Visualize/Realize | Brainstorming/Prototyping | Ends up choosing a product direction based on ideas, technologies, and market perceptions. | Phase II | Evaluating/Refining | Prototyping | Enhances design prototypes through testing functional prototypes. | Phase III | Implement/Detailed Engineering | Implementation | Completes product design and verified that the final product worked and could be manufactured. | Phase IV | Implement/Manufacturing Liaison | Implementation | Ensured smooth product release to manufacturing as the product moved from the shop floor to the client's factory lines. |
Prototyping and brainstorming are the most important core skills of IDEO. The role of prototyping in phases I and II is central to IDEO's design philosophy, more than their clients can imagine, and probably more than their competitors. Frequent prototyping serve as the most important way for IDEO to communicate with clients, marketers, experts, and end users. Prototypes ensure everyone was imagining the same design during discussions about a product. All IDEO offices have shops staffed by highly skilled machinists to rapidly produce both simple and sophisticated prototypes.
If prototyping was central to IDEO’s design process, brainstorming of phase 0 and I was central to its