The Versa was the first of several successful NEC (Japanese PC & laptop computers) projects inspired by a collaborative process we called "Greenhouse." One reason it was so successful was that NEC took a holistic multidisciplinary approach to designing its new products. What does it mean? Many companies rigidly separate functions such as research, design, marketing, and manufacturing, creating walls between groups that have much to teach one another. NEC set out to integrate the whole process, inviting marketing and manufacturing departments to inform the design and broaden communications. As Jane puts it, "you don't just send your researchers out to do research and your designers to do design, you send your designers with researchers to do design and vice-versa."
Jane has spearheaded numerous IDEO efforts to ensure that both designers and clients are part of the observation process that the discovery process is organic-because it's not enough to see or hear what people say, you have to interpret and intuit shades of meaning to divine their underlying motivations and needs.
From the book: The art of innovation by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman
No comments:
Post a Comment