Reflection On OpenIDEO Case
IDEO’s roots are in applying design-driven innovation principles to products, and IDEO’s work takes place in small design studios where all employees work on team-based projects. Whenever a studio becomes too large and bureaucratic, it is broken down into smaller units. Company management espouses a flat hierarchy, where there is no formal organizational chart and no two teams are the same. The goal of the inspiration phase is to gain insight into the user’s problem and the possibilities that may exist when creating a solution. In many cases, IDEO customers present the company with symptoms of a specific problem that needs to be solved, rather than just a simple statement of the problem. A deep understanding of the real problems that users face is the first and critical step in the innovation process. You need to connect ideas to live users. For example, in order to learn about the aviation project cooperated with Air New Zealand, the IDEO team even stayed in the North Island and the South Island for a month to understand the culture of New Zealand, starting from the understanding of the local culture to implement inspiration. Secondly, the management mode is very novel, that is, the team is full of inspiration interaction during the project. Instead of the traditional company’s management mode of “being directed by senior leaders”, the IDEO team not only proposed inspiration, but directly made product models to provide customers with more direct experience in the conception stage. This innovative idea has brought me great inspiration. The concept of “people-oriented” needs to be promoted by practical conditions, rather than just developing some inspiration online. IDEO has shown us how to integrate a new idea into real life and carry out inspiration and innovation in a multi-angle way. The case of Open IDEO makes us more clearly understand how to apply an inspiration to work and how to implement the results step by step. In addition, it also brings me a lot of inspiration in team management. How is it important to interact with the team’s inspiration