enlightened trial and error succeeds over

This is one strategy used within IDEO’s “Design Thinking” approach.ĭesign Thinking does not rely on the eureka moment, but rather a human-centered discovery process. Them findings that they can incorporate into their designs (The Deep Dive). In fact, “it’s suspicious when employees are at their desk all day,” because half the time they are out doing ethnographic research that will give 1 The company separates itself from the 9-5 design jobs that confine employees at a small desk all day. Wild ideas are not only encouraged, but are actually one of IDEO’s seven design principles that are posted on the walls throughout the office (The Deep Dive). THE IDEO CULTURE “Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius” -Peter SkillmanĭESIGN THINKING At IDEO, employees are neither creatively nor physically confined. Their mission for imaginative thinking is what makes IDEO’s product designs so successful. IDEO teams are not afraid to color outside of the lines, or to shout out wild ideas. IDEO embraces the outside-of-the-box thinking that we all naturally used when we were Kindergartners. Everyone else in the room also had the opportunity to show and tell their insights, and they worked together to combine their ideas into one final design. She was holding up a sketch of one of her ideas for a redesign of the shopping cart. She is a thirty-one-year-old designer at IDEO, who was standing in front of a team of several other professional designers and engineers. Lisa is not a six-year-old in Kindergarten. Her smiling audience gave her a generous round of applause after she finished. She proudly raised her art up high for everyone to see, and shared with the group what it meant to her. SHOW AND TELL DAY Lisa stood in front of her peers, clutching onto a paper decorated with a variety of shapes and curves. IDEO CASE STUDY A LOOK INTO THE COMPANY’S UNIQUE CULTURE, ORGANIZATION, AND PROCESS