ResearchReeeeSEARCH–I went and saw Tom Stat from …

ResearchReeeeSEARCH–I went and saw Tom Stat from IDEO Chicago speak at last night’s Chi-squared meeting. The topic was pretty much just learning about their company. It wasn’t totally fresh for me since it was a Business Week article featuring IDEO’s great design and great design-process that made me leave my job at Xerox. I went to my boss saying “When are we going to design products like this, and use this process?” When he said “We’re on our way, but we’re not there yet.” I bailed and went to a dotcom.

Of course now I’m at TMPW. People who know me well understand that I get fired up when I listen to the voice of reason. Reading outside perspectives on our company, or learning about how another company works always makes me reflect in a more meaningful way on how our company works. It’s a lot different than being spoonfed the company line saying that we’re innovative. How about we ACT innovative, and convince the public that we ARE innovative by marketing that fact. I respect that people have opinions about TMPW (look at the blog from 8/22/2002), and more often than not they’re right at some level or another. I have opinions too. But I’m a person that acts.

Currently, we can’t admit that we as TMP are a product development company. While we make products, we claim that we are a sales and marketing company. Well guess what? The way you ACT innovative is to make innovative things (products) that people find useful. Sales and marketing aren’t innovation. They are the RESULT of innovation. The IDEO way is to keep the user at the center of everything. And not what they say…what they DO. Every time IDEO does a project they study the potential users in their environment – Contextual Inquiry. They take pictures, they observe user shortcuts like post-it notes, or crib sheets. They observe their processes. They don’t rely on the words of the client, or their own account people to define innovation. The design teams DO RESEARCH. IT IS NOT OPTIONAL. And the user is the only thing Senior Management cares about. Design is king. Design is innovation. Good design sells and markets itself. Arrrrrghhhh. I’m way too fired up. I will not bail. I will find a way to innovate.