Ideo
HBS Case IDEO Product Development
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
IDEO, arguably the most successful design firm in the world, has been in the creativity and innovation business for over 20 years. IDEO started with a merger of three design companies, which brought together the capabilities to offer the design, development, and manufacturing of products for client companies. IDEO practices a non-formal five-phase process for development of a project, which uncovers the successes and failures of a design. These phases include frequent brainstorming, rapid and repeated prototyping, and concurrent engineering, which combines art with engineering to produce a functional and visually pleasing product. IDEO considers each phase of their process to be essential to development of a winning design. For two decades, IDEO has contributed to the design of thousands of new products ranging from a computer mouse to a stand-up toothpaste dispenser.
Dennis Boyle, a senior project leader and studio manager for IDEO, is pondering a development proposal from Handspring, a new venture seeking to create a hand-held computer device to compete with the popular Palm V product, which was developed by Boyle’s team. Boyle is considering the business advantage of the proposal. Handspring, however, wants an aggressive development and launch schedule for its new product. Boyle is wondering if this is the right move for IDEO and is considering the ramifications if the Visor product ends up being a failure.
The hand-held computer market is growing rapidly with the major success of the PalmPilot, as well as, the upcoming highly anticipated release of the Palm V from 3Com. One of the key Palm developers at 3Com, Jeff Hawkins, recently departed on good terms to form a new company, Handspring. Hawkins has a vision to create a product that will be fully compatible with the Palm line, but will be smaller and less expensive. His vision also includes adding a slot feature that will accept
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
IDEO, arguably the most successful design firm in the world, has been in the creativity and innovation business for over 20 years. IDEO started with a merger of three design companies, which brought together the capabilities to offer the design, development, and manufacturing of products for client companies. IDEO practices a non-formal five-phase process for development of a project, which uncovers the successes and failures of a design. These phases include frequent brainstorming, rapid and repeated prototyping, and concurrent engineering, which combines art with engineering to produce a functional and visually pleasing product. IDEO considers each phase of their process to be essential to development of a winning design. For two decades, IDEO has contributed to the design of thousands of new products ranging from a computer mouse to a stand-up toothpaste dispenser.
Dennis Boyle, a senior project leader and studio manager for IDEO, is pondering a development proposal from Handspring, a new venture seeking to create a hand-held computer device to compete with the popular Palm V product, which was developed by Boyle’s team. Boyle is considering the business advantage of the proposal. Handspring, however, wants an aggressive development and launch schedule for its new product. Boyle is wondering if this is the right move for IDEO and is considering the ramifications if the Visor product ends up being a failure.
The hand-held computer market is growing rapidly with the major success of the PalmPilot, as well as, the upcoming highly anticipated release of the Palm V from 3Com. One of the key Palm developers at 3Com, Jeff Hawkins, recently departed on good terms to form a new company, Handspring. Hawkins has a vision to create a product that will be fully compatible with the Palm line, but will be smaller and less expensive. His vision also includes adding a slot feature that will accept
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