Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(23)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I heard an interview with the author, Tom Kelley, on NPR and was fascinated by not only his talent for humorous storytelling, but also the stories he shared about product development at IDEO. After reading a short summary of the book I expected to read many marvelous stories about the process of product innovation, and all the twists and turns it involves - much like the author had discussed on the radio. I wanted to hear about the I-zone camera, the mouse... but to my chagrin, stories like these are only peripheral to the main focus of The Art of Innovation. Unfortunately, this isn't a book about invention - it's a business book, about somewhat dry things like how to run meetings, how to put together teams. However, I dutifully continued through the book, hoping to find more of the anecdotes that I had hoped for, until on page p. 132 it was all revealed in a paragraph that began, "As a management consultant..." What an ephiphany! I wanted to read a book by a designer, a free-spirited thinker, not a managment consultant. This book unfortunately feels more like something my boss would ask me to read for work rather than a peek inside the mind of quirky genius inventors that I would choose for leisure reading.

This should be the first book you read when you get out of college. Much of what Tom Kelley says would probably make your boss turn away, going against many theorems taught in management classes.

But just maybe he is re-defining the perfect environments for the the ideas that change the way we interface.

It is a handbook for innovation, the book share the experience of IDEO, the methods and the work practice to generate new ideas and the process of turning ideas to product. The first one is observation, people many ignore this point or pay little attention on that point. Tom mentioned a point that, we should user-oriented. Observed people how actually use a product instead of only interview them. Because some of customers are lacking product knowledge they cannot express the difficulty of using the product, even they do not fully utilize the product, so you may only get limited insight from interviewing them only.
I know that many people know the term of Brainstorming, which is a method of ideas generation. However, how to have a good brainstorming is a difficult task.

The third process is making prototype. It helps to solve the problem in 3-D, and let you know the problem or mistake in early stage of the process.

The last insight is about the quality of the team members. They should broad in their skills and interests, deep in their knowledge and experience in one or more disciplines. All these could enhance the cross-pollination. All they should accept the divest within the team.

Reading this book is a waste of time. I know, It is tough to explain how someone can do innovating thinking etc. But this book does not help any. Read books on mindmapping instead.

Ideo is a fascinating company, and just reading about its adventures and ways is enjoyable. Beyond that, this is a great book to give you some creative nudges. Frankly, I think the title and subtitle oversell it. This isn't really some kind of guide that you can apply and become more creative. Not to say that it's not helpful in that way, but only in the most general sense of the word. Still, it is absolutely worth reading and enjoyable because an inside look at Ideo is not to be missed.

It must be nice to live in IDEO's world. I can imagine that if I had access to the unlimited time and money that seem to permeate IDEO, the question of "how best to innovate" might be a pressing one.

While I don't discount that IDEO started from scratch and became a powerhouse using the methodologies described in the book, I would assert that their techniques and suggestions are only valuable to design firms, consultants, and high-end designers within very large corporations.

Some of the ideas are neat and can be incorporated into other structures - particularly the advice on brainstorming. But much of the work is simply not feasible for the average project or department manager. I do understand the inefficiencies that come from poorly executed innovation, prototyping, etc., but as far as functional guidelines go, a basic Product Design textbook has more useful and more flexible process descriptions.

Nevertheless, the book is at least entertaining, and is probably another route to making loads of dough for the IDEO guys, which, after all, is what IDEO seems to do best!

Dr. Ali Alwattari review - the "Art of Innovation" book describes parts of the human experience of innovation and is appropriately called the "art" of innovation. However, it does not outline how to actually innovate routinely.

This book is great for anyone who wants to have the inside scoop on how to create innovative products. IDEO is the premier industrial design house in the country. Their company culture is very interesting and entertaining. Great read! I couldn't put it down.

This is an entertaining and accessible read. Tom Kelley lets us in on the IDEO philosophy and approach to innovation in product and service design. While there are more appropriate alternatives for studying the mechanics of new product development such as Cooper's "Winning at New Products, Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch", this book addresses the often-misunderstood need to create a culture of innovation. IDEO has figured out how to accelerate learning during the "fuzzy front end" of new product development. A great book for inspiring anyone involved in the new product development process.

Kelly includes memorable labels such as the seven brainstorming steps,
1. Sharpen the Focus
2. Playful Rules
3. Number Your Ideas
4. Build and Jump
5. The Space Remembers
6. Stretch Your Mental Muscles
7. Get Physical

He also includes wonderful examples and stories. The production quality is what you would expect from a design group-great photos and layout. Even the paper feels good.

The book is an attempt to explain innovation through a highly hyped company. Tom Peters calls IDEO "the only other company I'd ever work for." IDEO is famous for it's innovative work in improving high tech user interface design at companies like Apple and Microsoft. It's on most "Top Places to Work" lists.

So the question begging to be asked are...
Is this book about innovation or recruiting?
And is IDEO really that good?

To answer the first, it seems a little bit of both. Since the book is written by insiders, you'll get what they think the secret to success is. Note - It's not an academic "Here's how innovation works" tome, it's "Here's what we thinks works"

As for IDEO really being that good? The book will convince you that you want to work there. Reality is IDEO has been hit by these troubled times like everyone else. I'd be interested in what The Vault has to say about them now.

Is the book an interesting read on design and innovation? Yes!
Will it make you a great innovator? Probably not. It's interesting, but lacks the key "Gotcha" insights.