Ideo Case Study

IDEO Product Development Case Study

´ Catia Ferreira1

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Mestrado em Inova¸ao e Empreendedorismo Tecnol´gico, FEUP c˜ o October 17, 2014

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How would you characterize IDEO’s process, organization, culture and management?

The business model for IDEO began as an open-minded place to design, develop and manufacture new products. It was the gather of process, organization, culture and management this company over time that allow it were now considered one of the most world’s largest and arguably most successful product development firms. IDEO was founded in 1991 by David Kelley, ”one of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley” according Fortune Magazine. The IDEO (pronounced ”eye-dee-oh”) is a greek word which means ”idea”, what makes sense if we consider that IDEO philosophy builds in genuine respect for new ideas and invention. This company pioneered the design version of ”concurrent engineering” where demand a symbiosis between design/art and engineering to produce aesthetically pleasing products that were also technically competent. This was di↵erent from many other similar companies that placed more emphasis on the industrial design that the engineering. IDEO’s strenghts grew out of the ability to master this ability with high tech clients like Apple Computer, AT&T, Samsung, Philips, Amtrak, Steelcase, Baxter International and NEC Corp, having also participated in Hollywood film projects, because they had a proven system by of developing the best products through using their key ingredients for innovative strategy. The IDEO innovative strategy is based on following principle ”If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth ten thousands”. In fact, this company assigns a important role to prototypes and experiments in general, because the prototypes ensured everyone imagine the same design during discussions about a product. However, in the early stages, perfecting a sophisticated model was considered a waste of time. Rapid prototyping at...