Ideo Case Study

IDEO Case Study

1. IDEO has a flat organization; there are no formal titles, dress codes, organizational charts or permanent job assignments. The company is made up of project teams organized around IDEO’s innovation process, which is focused on constant brainstorming and prototyping; where no idea is a bad idea, in the early stages of a project, and trial and error is an expectation on the journey to getting it right. The organization is driven by team collaboration and performance, built around creativity, innovation, and idea and information sharing to develop breakthrough products and achieve customer satisfaction by understanding customer needs and input. It is an adhocracy of two core groups tied together by IDEO’s innovation process 1. senior management responsible for strategic decisions, policies, structure, and IDEO’s process and 2. groups of empowered employees working together in teams through different phases of the IDEO process.

2. Intrinsic psychological rewards such as achievement, challenge, recognition, creative expression, and fun seem to be the dominate factors motivating employees to engage in IDEO’s innovation process. As IDEO does not have titles and organizational charts more extrinsic rewards such as promotions and money are not what are drawing the employees to work for a company like IDEO. As said in the case, being asked to participate in a brainstorming session is actually the fun part of the job and it is seen as a sign of being valued.

3. I would recommend that IDEO try to persuade Handspring’s management to go back to their original spring 2000 launch. It took 2 years to complete the Palm V and even with this experience Boyle would prefer 20 months for product development instead of the current 10 months the late 1999 launch would require. A spring 2000 launch would be a compromise, giving the IDEO team 16 months for product development. Even with the experience from completing the Palm V, 16 months would still likely be challenging with the cost constraints, new female consumer focus, and the new technology of the “Springboard” slots and associated modules. This will allow IDEO some time to utilize its renowned ideation process, increasing the likelihood of success. IDEO is highly sought after for their ability to deliver outstanding products that delight their customers so they don’t