The Deep Dive

What I Learned from the "Deep Dive":

1. “From the buildings in which we live and work, to the cars we drive, or the knives and forks with which we eat, everything we use was designed to create some sort of marriage between form and function.



2. The folks at IDEO state that they are not experts in any given area. But, they do claim to be experts on the process of how you design stuff, which they apply to the innovation of consumer products.




3. After the team of designers is brought together, told the problem, and informed they have five days to “pull it off,” what phase of the design process do they immediately engage in?
The Research phase of the design process is engaged immediately.



4. Give two examples of what the team members did during this phase.
A. found those that use, make, and repair shopping carts and found out what they thought about shopping carts

B. record information found out in order to convey to others and to have themselves


5. List five rules-of-thumb that IDEO employees follow when they share ideas during the brainstorming phase:
A. One conversation at a time

B. Stay focused on topic

C. Encourage wild ideas

D. Defer judgement


E. Build on the ideas of others



6. Why should wild (and sometimes crazy) ideas be entertained during the brainstorming phase?
You build on those wild ideas and they become better ideas then if everyone came up with same or "appropriate" things. They allow many points to take off from to build a really innovative idea.



7. After the brainstorming phase was over, the team narrowed down the hundreds of ideas by voting for those ideas that were not only “cool” but also buildable in a short period of time. What phase of the design process is this called?
The Analyze and select a solution(s) phase of the deign process.



8. IDEO believes that the ideas and efforts of a enlightened trial and error will always be more successful than the planning of a lone genius.



9. Once the ideas were narrowed down and divided into categories, the group was split into four smaller teams. What phase(s) of the design process was each of these groups responsible for?
The Design/Development phase of the design process.



10. The leaders at IDEO believe that playful behavior and a fun environment are two important reasons why their employees are able to think quickly and creatively to produce innovative results.



11. Sometimes, people come up with great solutions that work by trying their ideas first, and asking for forgiveness later.



12. Design is often a process of going too far and having to take a few steps back. What phase of the design process would the critique of the four mock-ups come under?
The Refinement process of the design process.


13. Upon critique of the four teams’ models, it was obvious that none of the teams had developed an optimum solution. However, the people at IDEO believe that it is important to fail often in order to succeed sooner.



14. What percentage of the entire week’s time did it take to fabricate the final prototype?
It took 20% or 1/5 of the time to fabricate the final prototype.


15. Instead of showering his design team with a tremendous amount of praise, what did the boss require his employees to do with their new design?
The boss tells his employees to take their new design to a nearby store to test it out.


16. Of all the things that we are surrounded by every day, what has not been placed through the design process?
Nature does not go thought the design process.

Conclusion
1. What did you find to be the most impressive part of the team’s effort?
I found that the most impressive team's effort was their will to create the best product they could within their restraints. They didn't stop at good-enough.



2. What advantages are there to having a design team with members that have non-engineering backgrounds?
They have no thoughts of constraints to the product. They come up with ideas that may be overlooked to an engineer because they think it will not work and will be a waste of time to ponder.



3. There was a point in the process where a self-appointed group of adults stepped up, stopped the ideas, and redirected the group to break up into teams. Why was this done?
There was worry that the team was drifting. This was done to refocus the "Deep Dive".



4. At the end of the video, Dave Kelly states, “Look around. The only things that are not designed are the things we find in nature.” Can you think of anything that would contradict this statement?
Only in the past few years has there been a statement that could contradict this statement. Now-a-days, we are able to cross-pollinate plants and foods.