00:00:12
[Music]
00:00:22
it used to be that you deferred to the
00:00:24
boss is it the boss is always going to
00:00:27
have the best ideas not likely here
00:00:30
Nimble fingers alert minds and tireless
00:00:33
machines and it used to be in most
00:00:35
companies that chaos was
00:00:40
discouraged this is where the crazies
00:00:42
live this is where we do our work it's
00:00:44
different good morning good morning used
00:00:47
to be you were supposed to climb the
00:00:49
corporate ladder good status is who
00:00:52
comes up with the best ideas not who's
00:00:54
the oldest not who's who's been with the
00:00:56
company longest not not who has that
00:00:58
biggest title if you go into a culture
00:01:01
and there's a bunch of stiffs going
00:01:02
around I can guarantee they're they're
00:01:04
not likely to invent
00:01:06
anything you could stack us up big as
00:01:08
big as you
00:01:09
want that's great thanks a lot and we
00:01:12
had a great time today well forget the
00:01:14
way it used to be tonight the Deep dive
00:01:19
one company's secret weapon for
00:01:25
[Music]
00:01:28
innovation
00:01:32
[Music]
00:01:40
a lot further along in this broadcast
00:01:42
near the end as a matter of fact you
00:01:44
will hear one of the central character
00:01:46
suggest that we look around the only
00:01:49
thing that's not designed by anybody he
00:01:51
will say is nature actually you could
00:01:54
say the same thing by observing that the
00:01:56
only designs that don't require constant
00:01:58
modification of the ones we find in
00:02:01
nature but the point is well taken from
00:02:04
the buildings in which we live and work
00:02:05
to the cars we drive or the knives and
00:02:07
forks with which we eat everything we
00:02:10
use was designed to create some sort of
00:02:12
marriage between Form and Function does
00:02:15
it work and can we make it look
00:02:17
interesting or attractive what is truly
00:02:20
amazing is how long we tend to put up
00:02:22
with things that may not work
00:02:23
particularly well or may look especially
00:02:26
unattractive simply because we're
00:02:28
accustomed to them because no one has
00:02:30
ever suggested redesigning those things
00:02:33
there's an interesting distinction
00:02:35
between design and invention whoever
00:02:39
came up with the idea of dental floss
00:02:41
for example was an inventor but the man
00:02:43
or woman who put it inside that clever
00:02:46
little plastic box that lets you tear
00:02:48
off just the right length that was a
00:02:51
designer now how does the process of
00:02:53
Designing a better product work and
00:02:56
would it be interesting to watch that
00:02:58
process when are we first broadcast this
00:03:00
program back in February we weren't at
00:03:03
all sure what you would think but
00:03:05
judging by the number of you who ordered
00:03:07
video cassettes of the program and the
00:03:09
number of people who contacted the
00:03:11
industrial product design firm that is
00:03:13
featured in this program you liked it a
00:03:17
lot here was the premise of the program
00:03:20
we went to idio the product design folk
00:03:23
and said take something old and familiar
00:03:25
like say the shopping cart and
00:03:28
completely redesign it for for us in
00:03:30
just 5 days ABC News correspondent Jack
00:03:34
Smith tells us what happened next 9 in
00:03:38
the morning day one and these people
00:03:41
have a deadline to meet so welcome to
00:03:44
the kickoff of the shopping cart project
00:03:47
this is Paulo Alto California in the
00:03:49
heart of Silicon Valley and these are
00:03:51
designers at Ido probably the most
00:03:54
influential product development firm in
00:03:56
the world designers are the reason TVs
00:03:59
have square screens chairs four legs and
00:04:02
toothbrushes nowadays those squishy
00:04:04
Handles in fact it was idio that
00:04:07
designed those squishy handles Ido has
00:04:09
designed everything from high-tech
00:04:11
medical equipment to the 25- Ft
00:04:13
mechanical whale in the movie free
00:04:15
willly and the first computer mouse for
00:04:17
Apple Smith ski goggles Nike sunglasses
00:04:20
NEC computer screens hundreds of
00:04:23
products we take for granted this is a
00:04:25
called the neat squeeze squeeze tooth uh
00:04:28
toothpaste tube which you invented the
00:04:30
man who runs Ido is Dave Kelly a
00:04:32
Stanford engineering Professor with a
00:04:34
Groucho marks mustache a dab of genius
00:04:37
and an approach to Innovation that
00:04:38
usually works well thank you Fred but
00:04:41
not always thanks a lot I can show you
00:04:43
some products that failed came up with
00:04:45
this idea called Monster shoes where you
00:04:47
take these little monsters and Lace them
00:04:49
into your shoes like this and we built a
00:04:52
bunch of them and um I didn't want those
00:04:54
either so mostly what Ido designs though
00:04:57
does work and it works very well Dave
00:05:00
and his design teams create about 90 new
00:05:02
products every year the point is that
00:05:05
we're not actually experts at any given
00:05:08
area you know we're kind of experts on
00:05:10
the process of how you design stuff so
00:05:12
we don't care if you give us a
00:05:13
toothbrush a toothpaste tube a tractor a
00:05:17
space shuttle you know a chair it's all
00:05:19
the same to us we like want to figure
00:05:21
out how to innovate in in by using our
00:05:24
process applying it and so for the next
00:05:26
5 days the team will apply that process
00:05:28
to bringing the Supermarket shopping
00:05:30
cart into the 21st century I think first
00:05:33
we should maybe all acknowledge that
00:05:35
it's kind of insane to do an entire an
00:05:37
entire project in a week project leader
00:05:39
is Peter skilman a 35-year-old Stanford
00:05:42
engineer project leader because he's
00:05:44
good with groups not because of
00:05:46
seniority he's only been at Ido for six
00:05:48
years the rest of the team is eclectic
00:05:51
but that's typical here Whitney Mortimer
00:05:53
Harvard MBA Peter Coughlin linguist Tom
00:05:57
Kelly Dave's brother marketing expert
00:05:59
Jane Fon Suri psychologist Alex kazak 26
00:06:03
a biology major who's turned down
00:06:06
medical school three times because he's
00:06:08
having too much fun at IO kids climbing
00:06:12
up and doing this kids do that safety
00:06:17
emerges early as an important issue
00:06:19
22,000 child injuries a year which is
00:06:23
and so they're hospitalized injuries I
00:06:25
mean there are many others not reported
00:06:27
in the store that's you actually have
00:06:29
that's hospitalized right and theft it
00:06:32
turns out a lot of carts are stolen you
00:06:35
know what is the average life of a cart
00:06:36
do it last 2 years 5 years 10 years and
00:06:40
and how big is this theft thing 10: a.m.
00:06:43
as the team works it becomes clear there
00:06:45
are no titles here no permanent
00:06:47
assignments the other side says gives us
00:06:50
a lot of help says be
00:06:52
safe everyone appears to be equal and
00:06:55
they love to mock Corporate America I'll
00:06:58
give you status I'll give you big red
00:06:59
ball on a on a on a on a post and that
00:07:02
says you're a big guy if you got a ball
00:07:04
you're a senior vice president you know
00:07:06
what do I get the desk red ball it's all
00:07:08
the
00:07:09
same in a very Innovative culture you
00:07:12
can't have a kind of hierarchy of here's
00:07:14
the boss and the next person down the
00:07:16
next person down the next person down
00:07:17
because it's impossible that the boss is
00:07:20
the one who's had the insightful
00:07:22
experience with shopping carts it's just
00:07:23
not possible according to Kelly even
00:07:26
employees who merely listen to the boss
00:07:28
don't add that much either so you got to
00:07:31
hire people who don't listen to you and
00:07:32
that I don't think Corporate America
00:07:34
wants to hear that right yet I think we
00:07:37
to start making those lists about the
00:07:39
kinds of questions that we're going to
00:07:40
ask the team splits into groups to find
00:07:42
out firsthand what the people who use
00:07:45
make and repair shopping carts really
00:07:47
think okay go the problem with the
00:07:49
plastic cart is the wind catches it yeah
00:07:51
and these things have been clocked at 35
00:07:53
across the parking
00:07:54
lot man that's actually a pretty good
00:07:57
point the the trick is to find these
00:07:59
real experts and so that you can learn
00:08:01
much more quickly than you could by just
00:08:03
kind of doing in the normal way and and
00:08:05
trying to learn about it yourself from
00:08:07
everything I read these things aren't
00:08:08
that safe either you know um so probably
00:08:12
the seat itself is going to have to be
00:08:14
redesigned what you're seeing here is
00:08:16
the kind of social science like
00:08:18
anthropologists you know like you go and
00:08:19
study tribes what is it that that they
00:08:22
do that we can learn from that will help
00:08:23
us design a better cart one of the
00:08:25
interesting things for me is looking at
00:08:26
how people really don't like to let go
00:08:28
of the cart except of the professional
00:08:29
shopper whose strategy is to leave the
00:08:32
cart at various places in Corporate
00:08:34
America many bosses like measure whether
00:08:37
their whether their people are you know
00:08:39
who the good people or the people who
00:08:41
are performing are the ones that they
00:08:42
see at their desk all the time that
00:08:44
couldn't be further from the truth the
00:08:46
people who are really getting the
00:08:47
information are out here talking to the
00:08:48
buzzes of the world going to to meet
00:08:51
other experts much more useful than
00:08:52
sitting at your desk 3:30 in the
00:08:55
afternoon and the group is back at idio
00:08:57
there is no letup
00:09:02
each team is going to demonstrate and
00:09:05
communicate and share everything that
00:09:07
they've learned today um people went off
00:09:09
in the four corners of the earth and are
00:09:11
coming back with the golden keys to the
00:09:13
to Innovation a uh shopping cart has
00:09:15
been clocked at 35 M an hour traveling
00:09:18
through a parking lot in the wind we
00:09:20
were in the store what 2 hours and and
00:09:22
it was truly frightening just to see the
00:09:24
kind of stuff going on you got to
00:09:25
designate some people to make damn sure
00:09:28
that the store owners point of VI is
00:09:29
represented after nine straight hours
00:09:32
the team is tired they call it a day so
00:09:35
um cool well uh that's great thanks a
00:09:37
lot we had a great time
00:09:40
[Applause]
00:09:44
[Music]
00:09:55
today want to get together and start
00:09:58
here day two and the start of idido's
00:10:00
unique brand of brainstorming they call
00:10:03
it a deep dive a sort of total immersion
00:10:05
in the problem at hand idido's mantra
00:10:08
for Innovation is written everywhere one
00:10:11
conversation at a time stay focused
00:10:13
encourage wild ideas defer judgment
00:10:16
build on the ideas of others uh that's
00:10:19
the hardest thing for people to do is to
00:10:21
uh restrain themselves from U uh
00:10:24
criticizing an idea so if anybody starts
00:10:26
to nail an idea they get the bill you
00:10:28
know
00:10:30
the Deep dive begins and for the next
00:10:32
few hours the ideas pour out and are
00:10:34
posted on the walls oh the blind the the
00:10:37
Privacy blind like when you're buying
00:10:39
six cases of condoms no one see nesting
00:10:42
is it sort of has to nest if it doesn't
00:10:45
Nest we don't have a solution how about
00:10:48
velcro pants and and velcro seats for
00:10:51
the kids and just drop them down on
00:10:52
there velcro seats velcro pants for kids
00:10:56
yeah see you have to have some wild
00:10:58
ideas if then you build on those wild
00:11:00
wild ideas and end up being better ideas
00:11:02
than if you said if you if everybody
00:11:04
only came up with same things you know
00:11:06
kind of appropriate things you'd never
00:11:09
like have any points to take off to to
00:11:11
build a really Innovative idea it's
00:11:14
organiz organized cha it's not organized
00:11:18
um what it is is it's focused chaos by
00:11:21
11:00 a.m. the group begins narrowing
00:11:23
down the hundreds of ideas written or
00:11:25
drawn on the walls how by voting for
00:11:29
them vote with your poit not not with an
00:11:31
idea that's cool but with an idea that's
00:11:33
cool and buildable um if it's if it's
00:11:36
too far out there and can't be built in
00:11:38
a day then I don't think we should vote
00:11:40
on it why not have you be the judge
00:11:41
you're the because because I'm I'm going
00:11:43
to be wrong it's the team that that's
00:11:45
able to really judge what the best
00:11:48
ideas otherwise ideas wouldn't come out
00:11:51
that's right enlightened trial and error
00:11:53
succeeds over the planning blown genius
00:11:56
enlightened trial and error succeeds
00:11:58
over the plan planning of the lone
00:11:59
genius if anything sums up idido's
00:12:02
approach that is it that and the focused
00:12:05
chaos that seems to go with it um I took
00:12:08
a point of view I call it the sport
00:12:10
utility vehicle cart it is noon worried
00:12:13
that the team is drifting what can only
00:12:15
be called a group of self-appointed
00:12:17
adults under Dave Kelly holds an
00:12:19
informal side session so we don't want
00:12:21
to tell them what to build or else we
00:12:23
take away the benefit of the whole thing
00:12:25
what needs should they optimize their
00:12:27
solution to purpose is to refocus the
00:12:30
Deep dive maybe we arbitrarily say we
00:12:33
could do five teams four or five teams
00:12:35
four four or five teams and we and we
00:12:37
give each team a need area hey can we uh
00:12:41
grab everybody over to the uh wall here
00:12:44
there has to be a Command Decision it
00:12:46
becomes very autocratic for a very short
00:12:48
period of time in defining what things
00:12:51
people are going to work on like it or
00:12:53
not the team is told it will split into
00:12:55
groups to build mockups covering four
00:12:57
areas of concern that have been
00:13:00
identified shopping safety checkout and
00:13:03
finding what you're looking for I
00:13:05
noticed that toward the end of the
00:13:07
process the adults took over yeah that's
00:13:10
because we we have no choice but to to
00:13:13
stop that cycle I mean there's um if you
00:13:17
don't work under time constraints you
00:13:19
you could never get anything done
00:13:20
because it's a messy process and go on
00:13:23
forever while the team starts building
00:13:26
prototypes Dave Kelly takes me on a tour
00:13:29
of the rest of idio what's happening in
00:13:31
here is uh that's a client meeting
00:13:34
that's a first client meeting that's the
00:13:35
first time we met with a client so we
00:13:37
haven't trained them
00:13:38
yet if if we took them straight from
00:13:41
there into a room where music was
00:13:43
blaring and everybody was throwing Nerf
00:13:45
darts at each other that would be a
00:13:47
little hard to take you know so um we're
00:13:49
warming them up but this is this is
00:13:51
where the crazies live this is where we
00:13:53
do our work it's different you can tell
00:13:55
whether a place is playful in about the
00:13:57
first 15 minutes as you walk down the
00:13:58
the
00:13:59
hob being playful is of huge importance
00:14:02
for being Innovative I mean if you go
00:14:04
into a culture and there's a bunch of
00:14:05
stiffs going around they're not I can
00:14:07
guarantee they're they're not likely to
00:14:09
invent anything invent anything like
00:14:11
this futuristic looking instrument for
00:14:15
kids so no matter what you do with that
00:14:17
thing you always you sound great you
00:14:19
always sound good you have to make it so
00:14:21
that this can
00:14:23
happen who it didn't break no it didn't
00:14:27
break there's a whole department at Ido
00:14:30
devoted to toys turns out to be one of
00:14:33
its most profitable areas fun too so got
00:14:36
these little wings and no matter what
00:14:38
you do if I get in trouble here it's
00:14:41
always a
00:14:43
spiral at Ideo they found that fresh
00:14:46
ideas come faster in a fun place not
00:14:49
only is the furniture on Wheels to suit
00:14:51
the needs of the moment but people are
00:14:53
encouraged actually to build their own
00:14:55
work areas and they were designing this
00:14:57
space and they said to me you know we'd
00:14:58
like to have you know $44,000 extra in
00:15:01
our budget for a DC3 wing and I said uh
00:15:05
DC3 you have to have that and they said
00:15:07
yeah they have to have it so that's
00:15:08
that's a DC3 Wing piece of a DC3 Wing
00:15:10
yeah and that's just Decor that's Decor
00:15:12
that's um Ambiance you know that says
00:15:15
we're weird and we're proud of it
00:15:17
umbrellas on the ceiling to shade
00:15:19
computer screens from direct sunlight
00:15:21
and bicycles on ropes to prevent clutter
00:15:24
the first guy who hung a bike up on a
00:15:26
thing he didn't come to me and ask me he
00:15:27
didn't ask some fa facilities person was
00:15:29
was okay he tried it and then like he
00:15:32
waited and see if anybody complained if
00:15:34
nobody complained another guy hung a
00:15:35
bike up and pretty soon everybody's got
00:15:37
their bikes up and nobody's complained
00:15:39
right so it's that whole thing of trying
00:15:41
stuff and ask forgiveness you know
00:15:42
instead of asking permission is the way
00:15:44
people come up with new ideas Ido has
00:15:47
such a reputation for Innovation that
00:15:49
client companies are increasingly asking
00:15:51
Dave not just for new products but also
00:15:53
to remake their corporate cultures you
00:15:56
may be looking at the workplace of the
00:15:57
future here it's one thing to be able to
00:16:00
do a product once in a while but if you
00:16:01
can build a culture and a process where
00:16:04
you routinely come up with great ideas
00:16:07
that's what the companies really want
00:16:08
okay Peter we're done back at the shop
00:16:11
it is 6:00 and the four mockups are
00:16:13
ready for showing baskets also can be if
00:16:16
you think you will have more volume
00:16:18
baskets can be put in a modular shopping
00:16:21
cart you pile hand baskets onto a high
00:16:24
tech cart that gets you through the
00:16:26
traffic jam a checkout that you could
00:16:28
mount a scanner on the shopping cart so
00:16:31
that you as the customer as you pull it
00:16:33
off the shelf would scan each item one
00:16:37
that's built around child safety and
00:16:40
another that let Shoppers talk to the
00:16:42
supermarket staff remotely yeah where
00:16:44
can I find a yogurt the yogurt over
00:16:46
daily but the adults again decide more
00:16:49
work needs to be done before the mockups
00:16:51
can be combined into one last prototype
00:16:54
why don't we have all the carts come up
00:16:56
here for a second I think You' take a
00:16:58
piece of each one of these ideas and
00:16:59
kind of back it off a little bit and
00:17:01
then put it in the in the design the
00:17:04
design is still not there but there's
00:17:06
another motto at Ido fail often in order
00:17:09
to succeed sooner and some of the team
00:17:11
will be up half the night trying to put
00:17:13
together a design that finally does work
00:17:22
so it is day five and Dave Kelly has no
00:17:27
idea what the final cart looks like B
00:17:29
only the team does if they kind of got
00:17:30
their heads down they don't look at me
00:17:32
I'm nervous you know if they say wait
00:17:34
till you see it then I know we're in
00:17:35
good shape so I'm getting wait until you
00:17:37
see it I think it's that'll be good
00:17:39
there it
00:17:41
is there it
00:17:43
is so we took the best elements out of
00:17:46
each prototype designed this entire cart
00:17:50
in a day and then this cart was
00:17:52
fabricated in a day with an amazing team
00:17:55
of people in our machine shop pulling
00:17:57
this off working in shifts throughout
00:18:00
the night wow I'm impressed so are
00:18:04
we the cart which is designed to cost
00:18:07
about the same as today's carts is
00:18:09
different in every other way hand
00:18:12
baskets that stack in a metal frame and
00:18:14
major improvements for all you you just
00:18:17
lift the handle up you drop the put the
00:18:19
children in and then you can close the
00:18:22
um the the uh handle right over them and
00:18:25
they instantly have some little bit of a
00:18:27
work surface that they can play with
00:18:29
what do you think this well I I'm very
00:18:32
proud of the team I think it's it's
00:18:34
great this does this work for you works
00:18:36
for me great it's also beautiful I mean
00:18:38
let's you know take it over to a local
00:18:39
supermarket and see what they say yeah
00:18:42
it works really well the cart's wheels
00:18:44
turn 90° so it can move sideways no more
00:18:47
lifting up the rear in a tight spot and
00:18:49
you shop in a totally different way
00:18:52
rather than taking your cart everywhere
00:18:53
you go in the store through a crowded
00:18:55
store like this uh much more efficient
00:18:57
to take take a small basket rush around
00:18:59
to where the the particular shelves are
00:19:01
and come back and put them back put them
00:19:03
here and treat this as like a center for
00:19:05
your shopping and with a high-tech
00:19:07
scanner so that in the future you skip
00:19:10
the checkout traffic jam here's how you
00:19:12
would scan an item you reach over and
00:19:13
pick up anything like uh like the salad
00:19:16
dressing and I would I would scan it and
00:19:19
if I want to accept that item I would
00:19:20
just press plus and then drop it in my
00:19:22
basket because stores don't yet have
00:19:25
those high-tech scanners the team
00:19:26
designed checking out today means doing
00:19:29
it the oldfashioned way but the bags are
00:19:32
hung on hooks on the cart's frame
00:19:34
remember there is no basket here why get
00:19:37
rid of the big basket the basket is
00:19:40
tyranny the basket is tyranny because
00:19:43
it's not really needed if all your stuff
00:19:45
ends up in bags why need the basket in
00:19:47
the first place talk to me about
00:19:50
theft there's no value in this cart
00:19:53
without the basket because you can't
00:19:55
carry anything in it it's useless to
00:19:57
anybody you can't
00:19:58
a barbecue so it's not going to get
00:20:00
stolen that's right so this ought to
00:20:02
appeal to store owners yes I love it I
00:20:05
think it looks great at first I was a
00:20:07
little shocked but I think it's you have
00:20:09
some fantastic ideas here it needs a
00:20:11
little refining but I think that it's
00:20:13
great I mean we would we would want them
00:20:16
it makes us feel great uh and she also
00:20:18
gave us some really good comments about
00:20:20
how we can make this thing better just
00:20:22
wherever you are look around the only
00:20:24
thing that's not designed by somebody i'
00:20:25
like is nature so the trees are not
00:20:27
designed by us but everything you see
00:20:30
everything you see every light fitting
00:20:31
every flower vase every scale every
00:20:34
stand for fruit everything is designed
00:20:36
has to go through this kind of process
00:20:38
and they can do a better or a um a
00:20:41
better or worse job of innovating or
00:20:43
improving but everything is designed it
00:20:45
has to go through this process it wasn't
00:20:48
this effortless oh my God so that's how
00:20:50
it works thing that I saw there it was
00:20:52
actually hard work it's a lot of hard
00:20:55
work um we all love it so it doesn't
00:20:56
look like it's hard work but it's lot of
00:20:58
hours a lot of hours also an open mind a
00:21:02
boss who demands fresh ideas be quirky
00:21:05
and clash with his a belief that chaos
00:21:07
can be constructive and teamwork a great
00:21:11
deal of teamwork and these are the
00:21:14
recipe for how Innovation takes place
00:21:17
this is Jack Smith for Nightline in Pao
00:21:20
Alto
00:21:22
California I'll be back with a brief
00:21:24
update on our story in just a
00:21:27
moment
00:21:28
incidentally the Nightline shopping cart
00:21:30
won a silver award in the industrial
00:21:33
design excellence awards and there's
00:21:35
talk now of developing it commercially
00:21:39
that's our report for tonight I'm Ted
00:21:40
Coppel in Washington for all of us here
00:21:42
at ABC News good
00:21:46
[Music]
00:21:57
night
