Introduction
The article gives an in-depth discussion of IDEO’s product development strategies and procedures, highlighting some projects in which the company has successfully designed and developed products for its clients. The article describes IDEO as one of the largest and most successful product development firms in the world. The firm’s philosophy is based on respect and appreciation of new inventions and ideas. This ideology has seen IDEO contribute to the designing and development of many new products, winning different awards and accolades in the process.
The article also highlights the firm’s history. It points out that IDEO was founded in 1991 in a merger that brought together three startups. These firms were David Kelly Design, Matrix, and ID Two. David Kelly owned David Kelly Design while Mike Nuttall founded Matrix. On the other hand, Bill Moggridge was the leader of ID Two. The coming together of these companies ensured that all services that clients required to design, develop and manufacture new products were brought together under a single entity. David Kelly took over the leadership of IDEO since he was the owner of the largest company among the three. The privately-owned firm started with a small number of employees, but in the late 1990s, the number had risen to over 300 employees. The primary driver of this growth was an increase in the number of client companies seeking IDEO’s services. Some of the customer companies were AT & T, Apple Computer, Philips, and Samsung. The increased demand for the firm’s services also led to the establishment of design centers in other cities around the world. The article also highlights the corporate strategy utilized by the enterprise. The company maintained an open office framework in which employees could freely roam around and interact with each other, a process that encouraged sharing of ideas. Additionally, there was no clear leadership structure, a factor that contributed to the creation of an innovative environment.
The role of prototyping
The role of prototyping was central to the firm’s philosophy. The approach was an important way through which the firm could communicate to its clients, marketers as well as end-users. The firm’s culture encouraged frequent interactions between employees. Apart from that, cases of employees being fired were relatively low compared to other companies in the “silicon valley”. Employees were divided into smaller units, with individual employees being encouraged to come up with their workspace designs. Additionally, the firm did not require employees to adopt an official dress code. Formal titles were rarely used, and even the firm’s leadership discouraged them. These factors contributed to a low employee turnover (5%) during the 1990s. The company’s product development was divided into different phases namely the understanding/observing phase, visualizing/realizing phase, evaluating/refining phase, implementing/detailed engineering phase, and the manufacturing liaison phase.
The analysis of IDEO’s product development
The analysis of IDEO’s product development, as presented in the article, is closely related to the internal and external analysis of a firm’s environment. The article reveals how effective analysis of the external and internal environment ensured that IDEO was able to set up appropriate controls. Through the creation of an internal environment that encouraged free interaction among employees and which did not subject the employees to strict and authoritative leadership, the company succeeded in promoting innovation. This strategy enabled the firm to have a competitive advantage over its competitors.