The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm

The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm | Tom Kelley, Jonathan Littman | Ever wonder what it would be like in a creative environment?

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The Art of Innovat...

	The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm Tom Kelley, Jonathan Littman Broadway Books, 2001 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 72 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Foster an environment that brings a creative, innovation force...

This book is NOT a step by step process on how to give your company an "IDEO Makeover". Not even close.

Instead, this is THE book to learn how to foster an environment that promotes creativity.

Whether you're in the "messy startup mode" or "established 3-piece suit mode", you'll be able to apply what you learn and bring a massive creative force in your business. Innovation will flow fluidly once you demolish barriers that contain creativity.

Tom Kelley's logic is basically this:

1. Bring together insightful, motivated people, regardless of disciplinary background.

2. Put them under deadline pressure, but pamper them in ways that reinforce a sense of community.

3. Challenge them to do innovative, creative work.

4. Then simply stand back as they blow you away with sideways solutions the likes of which the world has never seen.

What I learnt in this book helped our company come out with innovative products that blew the competition away.

I got my copy almost free using a coupon from UnderTag.com

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Ever wonder what it would be like in a creative environment?

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to work in a creative environment and how to pull one together modeled on what IDEO does, this is just the book. I really came to be a little jealous of the workplace and people described in the book as it sounded like a really fun place to work and a really stimulating place as well. I was also trying to imagine how some of these principles in the book could be implemented in my current workplace and had a hard time imagining many of my colleagues really going along with them, but then .. maybe I am in the wrong workplace??
This is a fun book and inspirational.

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Essential Reading for Opening Your Mind

I met Tom Kelley once at a company function. He was shooting foam finger rockets across the room at my management team. I knew at that point that Ideo was a revolutionary company. This book will open your mind to the possibilities locked inside your company. More importantly, it reiterates the value of quality employees. I can't say enough about this book! Open the book...open your mind!

The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO

This book was inspirational to me because of the many examples of executing an idea. Since the examples were varied in application and product fields, it motivated me to review ideas that I have and encouraged me to risk launching some of them into the public waters.

I bought this book for a few friends of mine because it contains ignitable information. One young friend just graduated college and the other is a seasoned architect whom has stories of his own.

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Take Off Your Tie

Tom Kelley, IDEO general manager and brother to David Kelley, IDEO founder, wrote the Art of Innovation as an introductory guide to how business is run at the world's leading design firm. He hopes that we can take some of this information and incorporate it into our workplace's culture, so as to drive innovation.

Kelley outlines a seemingly simple process of design. This process includes an observation and understanding phase, a quick brainstorming and initial prototyping phase, an elaboration and refining phase, a final product phase, and a phase transferring the final product to the client's factories. The book only focuses on the first three phases.

In the observing and understanding phase Kelley provides a multitude of techniques so that this can be done more effectively. These include going "into the jungle" and watching customers, directly, or envisioning a child using a product. It is clear that observation of the problem, is the most difficult, yet essential step to successful design.

Next, Kelley describes the process of brainstorming at IDEO, and the manner in which brainstorming is truly an art, which must be refined. He offers several tips (i.e. Allow for silly ideas) for improving the effectiveness of group brainstorms. Kelley emphasizes the rapidity with which the team can move from brainstorming to prototyping. Prototyping brings out specific problems, which can be refined, specifically.

Finally, Kelley describes elaborating on a the ideas of design. This is done not just with prototyping, but with a mentality which drives thinking of everything as an 'experience'. (Don't simply think about blowing your nose. Think about the process of getting a tissue from the box and bringing it to your nose, and scrutinize it for problems.) Also, Kelley mentions that simplicity is essential.

These three phases of designs are richly described with a variety of real-life experiences found at IDEO and techniques for achieving similar results. Kelley also emphasizes the working in groups aspect of a good design firm, which can be useful for a manager in any business.

Kelley, also, emphasizes the importance of working in groups. He describes the environmental conditions suitable for a really "hot team". These conditions include a corporate culture non-critical of failed concepts and a work space resembling a play space. The teams are allowed a long leash in solving the problems presented to them. From the examples in the book, this approach seems to work fantastically. Kelley offers a variety of tips for upper management to create a workplace that can breed creativity.

Ultimately, if in business or not, The Art of Innovation can be a highly valued book. It relays something inherently simple: the old saying that "nothing is perfect" is actually true. If we can put ourselves in the position of a dissatisfied Platonist, we can innovate or improve on every single thing in the world. The techniques Kelley describes are valuable, but the most important message to take is that any and all of us can be innovative. The first step is taking off your tie.

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