IDEO is a global award-winning design firm. Every year teams of people including psychologists, mechanical engineers, biologists, and industrial designers work on projects ranging from Apple’s first computer mouse to heart defibrillators to the Neat Squeeze toothpaste tube. IDEO’s corporate philosophy is that teamwork improves innovation and creativity. Group brainstorming is used to spark a lot of new ideas at once. Project teams share and improve ideas by leveraging members’ skills and solving problems together. The company believes that the diversity of interdisciplinary teams allows higher quality, faster innovation. Regardless of the project, IDEO teams use the same process. First, they identify similar products and experiences, then they observe people using them. The teams then visualize, evaluate, refine, and implement innovative solutions to their clients’ problems drawing from their research and observations. IDEO team members lack status or formal titles, and every team member is given equal respect.
1.How does teamwork influence innovation at IDEO?
2.How does diversity influence the effectiveness of teamwork at IDEO?
3.What characteristics would you look for in staffing a project team at IDEO?
