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 process in which they 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?





They split into groups to find out first hand what the people who use, make, and repair shopping carts really think.







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

a. Took pictures of people using the shopping carts to see how they use them and how it could be more helpful.


b. Asked workers about the shopping carts and how they could improve them.





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

a. Build on ideas of others.




b. Have one conversation at a time.


c. Stay focused on topic.


d. Encourage wild ideas.


e. Defer judgement





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





Because wild ideas could be the best because they end up working the best with the least constraints.





7. After the brainstorming phase was over, the team narrowed down the hundreds of ideas by using sticky notes 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? I think it is generating ideas.





8. IDEO believes that the ideas and efforts of a group 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?

To build and model a prototype.



10. The leaders at IDEO believe that playful behavior and a fun 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 opinions 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?

The decision process that this applies to is refining and communicating results.




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 succeed sooner.



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

They designed it in a day which is a fifth or 20% of the week they were given.



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?

To improve upon their design.



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

Nature.




Conclusion

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

I think making a super nice final product that worked great was the most impressive part of the team's effort.



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

They all have skills in different point of views to help it have a checks and balances type of system.



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?

To get perspectives from not one place but many places.



4. At the end of the video, Dave Kelly states, “Look around. The only things that are not designed are the things we find in nature.” Can you think of anything that would contradict this statement?

The Grand Canyon was designed by nature to keep the Colorado River at a steady flow and not have the water crashing into stuff and going off course.