Question

3. To what extent can the IDEO approach be emulated by other organizations so as to produce a comparable level of success? What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for the successful use of IDEO-type teams?

Answer 1

The IDEO approach can be emulated by other organizations to a great extent to produce a comparable level of success. The reason is certain companies have CEOs who are designers. Such companies are Airbnb and Nike. Companies like Apple, 3M have design officers in the higher level. Design is what differentiates a company from others. It is not necessary to earn a degree to be design thinkers. Apple for example has been highly successful due to its innovative culture. An IDEO-type team is used in Apple and the mobile phones of Apple have many versions to outperform other companies and to avoid the decline stage in the product life cycle.

The necessary and sufficient conditions for the successful use of IDEO-type teams:

- Support others to be successful- Even a most valued player who provides great ideas would not be successful team players. Hence, the company’s culture would need to support others who are ‘stuck’ with their ideas.

- Team work- Great minds’ work are successful only if there is team work. Hence, diverse team members need to work in teams to have the design thinking approach successful.

- Human centered approach- It is true that humans make error. However, each team member should support each other and have a human centered approach that revolves around desirability, technology and viability to find a solution to the problem.