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

The business literature is very clear on this fact:  Innovative companies sustain their competitive advantage and perform better than less innovative companies.  But how does a company foster a culture and process for continuous innovation? 

Tom Kelley tells us how it is done at IDEO, generally touted as one of the most innovative design firms in America.   Kelley's book is an interesting read and tells the story of IDEO and what takes place within its walls.  He offers insights into the actual process of innovation and how the IDEO teams approach each stage of the process.  However, he makes it clear that methodology alone will not guarantee creativity and innovation. 

The book includes case studies and entertaining anecdotes which illustrate how some well known and celebrated consumer products came to be.  Using these examples, Kelley makes a clear case that culture and dynamics are key factors in engaging the creativity of a team.

Kelley shares IDEO’s 5-step process that IDEO lives by:

1. Understand the market, the client, the technology and the perceived constraints on the given problem.
2. Observe to gain insight into human behaviour and discover key drivers and motivations and what is not addressed by current products.
3. Visualize new concepts and the customer experience - brainstorm many ideas.
4. Evaluate and refine the prototypes in quick iterations to learn and improve upon ideas and protypes.  Take risks and fail your way to success.
5. Implement for commercialization.

Bottom line:  This is a great book -- if companies tried to integrate some of the practices and principles Kelley shares, I think we would see some positive changes in our workplaces and more small companies making a bigger impact.