The Deep Dive

1. “From the buildings in which we live and work, to the cars we drive, or the knives and forks with which we eat, everything we use was designed to create some sort of marriage between form and function.”



2. The folks at IDEO state that they are not experts in any given area. But, they do claim to be experts on the "the proccess of how you design stuff", which they apply to the innovation of consumer products.



3. After the team of designers is brought together, told the problem, and informed they have five days to “pull it off,” what phase of the design process do they immediately engage in?

Brainstorming.


4. Give two examples of what the team members did during this phase.

a. Interviews


b. Reaserch





5. List five rules-of-thumb that IDEO employees follow when they share ideas during the brainstorming phase:

a. One conversation at a time.


b. Stay focused.


c. Incourage wild ideas.


d. Differ judgement.


e. Build on ideas of others.





6. Why should wild (and sometimes crazy) ideas be entertained during the brainstorming phase?

So innovative ideas emerge.


7. After the brainstorming phase was over, the team narrowed down the hundreds of ideas by voting for those ideas that were not only “cool” but also buildable in a short period of time. What phase of the design process is this called?





8. IDEO believes that the ideas and efforts of enlightened trial and error will always be more successful than the planning of a lone genius.



9. Once the ideas were narrowed down and divided into categories, the group was split into four smaller teams. What phase(s) of the design process was each of these groups responsible for?

Saftey, Shoping, Check Out, Finding what you looking for.



10. The leaders at IDEO believe that ________________ behavior and a ______________ environment are two important reasons why their employees are able to think quickly and creatively to produce innovative results.



11. Sometimes, people come up with great solutions that work by trying their ideas first, and asking for permission later.



12. Design is often a process of going too far and having to take a few steps back. What phase of the design process would the critique of the four mock-ups come under?





13. Upon critique of the four teams’ models, it was obvious that none of the teams had developed an optimum solution. However, the people at IDEO believe that it is important to fail often in order to succede sooner.



14. What percentage of the entire week’s time did it take to fabricate the final prototype?





15. Instead of showering his design team with a tremendous amount of praise, what did the boss require his employees to do with their new design?

Test it.


16. Of all the things that we are surrounded by every day, what has not been placed through the design process?

School.





Conclusion

1. What did you find to be the most impressive part of the team’s effort?


The fact that they eliminated the basket.






2. What advantages are there to having a design team with members that have non-engineering backgrounds?

They have backgrounds in other things.







3. There was a point in the process where a self-appointed group of adults stepped up, stopped the ideas, and redirected the group to break up into teams. Why was this done?

The group was starting to wander off.