Tonight the deep dive one Company's secret weapon or innovation we went to IDEO the product design folk and said take something old and familiar like say the shopping cart and Completely redesign it for us in just five days ABC news Correspondent Jack Smith tells us what happened next? 9:00 in the morning day one and these people have a deadline to meet so welcome to the kickoff of the shopping cart project This is Palo Alto, [California] in the heart of Silicon Valley these are designers at Ideo Probably the most influential product development firm in the world Ideo has designed everything from High-Tech medical equipment to the twenty-five foot mechanical whale in the movie 'Free Willy' and the first computer mouse for Apple; Smith's ski goggles Nike sunglasses NEC computer screens Hundreds of products we take for granted The point is that we're not actually experts at any given area you know we're kind of experts on the process of how [you] design stuff so we don't care if you give us a Toothbrush a Toothpaste Tube A tractor a space shuttle you know a chair it's all the same to us we like want to figure out how to Innovate in in by using our process applying it project leader is [Peter] Skillman a 35 year old stanford engineer Project leader because he's good with groups not because of seniority he's only been at Ideo for six years The rest of the team is eclectic, but that's typical here Whitney Mortimer Harvard MBA Peter Coughlin, Linguist Tom Kelly [Dave's] brother marketing expert Jane Fulton Suri psychologist, Alex Kazakhs 26 a biology major Who's turned down Medical school three times because he's having too much fun at IDEO safety Emerges early as an important issue 22,000 child injuries a year which is and so they're hospitalized injuries. I mean there are many others and Theft [it] turns out a lot of carts are stolen as the team works. It becomes clear. There are no titles here No permanent assignments the other side says give us a lot of help says be safe I'll give you a big red ball on a on a on a on a post and that says you're a big guy if you Got a ball your senior vice president. You know what do I get over the desk the red ball. It's all sink in in a very innovative Culture you can't have a kind of hierarchy of here's the boss and the next person down the next person down the next person down Because it's impossible That the boss is the one who's had the insightful experience with shopping carts [it's] just not possible [the] team splits into groups to find out firsthand what the people who use make and repair shopping carts Really think okay, go Probably the plastic card is the wind catches it yeah, and these things have been clocked at 35 across the parking yeah, that's actually pretty good point the the trick is to find these real experts and so that you can learn much more quickly than You could by just kind of doing in the normal way and trying to learn about it yourself from everything I read these things aren't that safe either. You know So probably the seat itself is gonna have to be redesigned one of the interesting things for me is looking at how people really don't Like to let go of the cart except for the professional shopper. Whose strategy is to leave the cart at various places 3:30 in the afternoon and the group is back at I do there is no let-up each team is going to demonstrate and [communicate] and share everything that they've learned today [a] Shopping cart has been clocked at 35 miles an hour traveling through a parking lot in the wind we were in the store wet two hours and and It was truly frightening just to see the kind of stuff going up you got to Designate some people to make damn sure that the store owners [Point-of-view] is represented after nine straight hours the team is tired They call it a day, so I'm a cool well. Uh that's great. Thanks a lot. We had a great time today I do Mantra for innovation is written everywhere one conversation at a time Stay focused encourage wild ideas Defer judgment build on the ideas of others That's the hardest thing for people do is to restrain themselves from Criticizing an idea so if anybody starts to nail an idea they get the [bell] you know The ideas pour out and are posted on the walls [oh] the blind beat the privacy plain like when you're buying six cases of condoms you know and suits if it doesn't nest We don't have a solution. Okay, nice kid It's [not] organized [um] what it is is its focused Chaos vote with your post-it not not with an idea That's cool But with an idea, that's cool and buildable Um if it's [worry] if it's too far out there and can't be built in a day, then I don't think we [should] vote on enlightened Trial-And-error succeeds over the planning [blown] genius enlightened Trial-And-error Succeeds over the planning of the lone genius if anything sums up ideos approach that is it Worried that the team is drifting What can only be called a group of self-appointed adults under dave Kelly holds an informal side session [for] five? Four or five times a week, and we give each team a need area It becomes very autocratic for a very short [period] [of] time in defining What things people are gonna work on if you don't work under time constraints? You could never get anything done because it's a messy precedent go on forever Back at the shop. It is six o'clock before mock-ups are ready for showing baskets also can be if you think [you] will have more volume baskets can be put in a modular shopping cart you pile hand baskets [onto] things you've been tied tech cart that gets you through the traffic Jam a check out that you could mount a Scanner on the shopping cart so that you as the customer as you pull it off the shelf would scan each item one that's built around child safety and Another that lets shoppers talk to the supermarket staff remotely uh yeah, where can I find a yogurt? But the adults again decide more work needs to be done before the mock ups can be combined into one last prototype [why] don't we have all the cards come up here for a second? I think you take a piece of each one of these ideas and kind of back it off a little bit and then put it In that yeah in the design the design is still not there But there's another motto at I do fail often in order to succeed sooner Some of the team will be up half the night trying to put together a design that finally does work So we took the best elements out of each Prototype the cart which is designed to cost about the same as today's carts is different in every other way, what do you think? Well, I'm very proud of the team. [I] think it's it's great this does this work for you works for me great It's also beautiful the carts wheels turned 90 degrees So it can move sideways no more lifting up the rear in a tight spot And you shop in a totally different [way] the bags are hung on hooks on the carts frame Remember there is no basket here At first I was a little shocked, but I think it's you have some fantastic ideas here It needs a little refining, but I think that it's great. I mean we would we would want them She also gave us some really good comments about how we can make this thing better [a] lot of hours Also an open mind a boss who demands fresh ideas be quirky and clash with is a belief that Chaos can be Constructive and teamwork [a] great deal of Teamwork [and] these are the recipe for innovation [tax] place This is Jack Smith for Nightline a Palo Alto, California
