The makings of a hot group

History demonstrates that great projects and products are often the result of great teams. Products and projects as diverse as the Macintosh, the new Volkswagen Bettle, and the Lockheed Shunkworks were all spawned by charismatic teams. How they do it? In a microcosm, the IDEO Nightline shopping cart team-though they were only together for a week- displayed many of the characterustics of hot groups. 

First, they were totally dedicated to achieving the end result. No one doubted that shopping carts could use some improvement, and everyone was enthusiastic.

Second, they faced down a slightly ridiculous deadline. When the hurdle is high, there's a tremendous sense of achievement in getting anything done by the deadline.

Third, the group was irreverent and nonhierarchical. Despite the deadline, they joked and played around-like brainstorming up a sports utility shopping cart-to let off steam.

Fourth, the team was well rounded and respectful of its diversity. Though the team was drawn from widely divergent disciplines, they had tremendous respect for their fellow members. You knew you were selected for your ability, not seniority or political skills.

Fifth, they worked in an open, eclectic space optima for flexibility, group work, and brainstorming. There were high ceilings with no internal walls, no sense that you often have in a typical corporate setting that "the company" wants it a certain way.

Finally, the group felt empowered to go get whatever else it needed. Hot teams connect to the outside world. They know that answers don't lie within. 

The art of innovation by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman

A method to our madness

Because of the eclectic appearance of our office space and the frenetic, sometimes boisterous work and play in process, some people come away from their visit to our offices with the impression that IDEO is totally chaotic. In fact, we have a well-developed and continuously refines methodology; it's just that we interpret that methodology very differently according to the nature of the task at hand. Loosely described, that methodology has five basic steps:

1. Understand the market, the client, the technology, and the perceived constraints on the problem. Later in a project, we often challenge those constraints, but it's important to understand current perceptions.

2. Observe real people in real-life situations to find out what makes them tick: what confuses them, what they like, what they hate, where they have latent needs not addressed by current products and services.

3. Visualize new-to-the-world concepts and the customers who will use them. Some people think of this step as predicting the future, and it is probably the most brainstorming-intensive phase of the process. Quite often, the visualization takes the form of a computer-based rendering or simulation,  though IDEO also builds thousands of physical models and prototypes every year. For new product categories we sometimes visualize the customer experience by using composite characters and storyboard-illustrated scenarios. In some cases, we even make a video that portrays lilfe with the future product before it really exists.

4. Evaluate and refine the prototypes in a series of quick iterations. We try not to get too attached to the first few prototypes, because we know they'll change. No idea is so good that it can't be improved upon, and we plan on a series of improvements. We get input from our internal team, from the client team, from knowledgeable people not directly involved with the project, and from people who make up the target market. We watch for what works and what doesn't, what confuses people, what they seem to like, and we incrementally improve the product in the next round.

5. Implement the new concept for commercialization. This phase is often the longest and most technically challenging in the development process, but I believe that IDEO's ability to successfully implement lends credibility to all the creative work that goes before.

The Art of Innovation, by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman