WEBVTT

00:00:01.961 --> 00:00:04.081
[cuckoo clock chiming]

00:00:04.081 --> 00:00:06.061
(male host)
Tonight, the deep dive.

00:00:06.061 --> 00:00:09.911
One company's
secret weapon for innovation.

00:00:12.078 --> 00:00:22.538
[jazz music]

00:00:22.753 --> 00:00:25.753
We went to IDEO,
the product design folk,

00:00:25.753 --> 00:00:29.753
and said take something old and familiar,
like say the shopping cart,

00:00:29.753 --> 00:00:32.643
and completely redesign it for us

00:00:32.643 --> 00:00:34.833
in just five days.

00:00:34.833 --> 00:00:37.093
ABC News correspondent,
Jack Smith,

00:00:37.093 --> 00:00:39.883
tells us what happened next.

00:00:39.883 --> 00:00:42.543
(Jack Smith)
Nine in the morning, day one.

00:00:42.543 --> 00:00:45.113
And these people
have a deadline to meet.

00:00:45.113 --> 00:00:47.383
(male)
So welcome to the kick off

00:00:47.383 --> 00:00:48.813
of the shopping cart project.

00:00:48.813 --> 00:00:50.753
(Jack Smith)
This is Palo Alto,

00:00:50.753 --> 00:00:53.023
California,
in the heart of Silicon Valley,

00:00:53.023 --> 00:00:55.683
and these are designers at IDEO,

00:00:55.683 --> 00:00:58.643
probably the most influential
product development firm

00:00:58.643 --> 00:01:00.483
in the world.

00:01:00.483 --> 00:01:02.103
IDEO has designed everything

00:01:02.103 --> 00:01:04.083
from hi-tech medical equipment,

00:01:04.083 --> 00:01:06.923
to the 25-foot mechanical whale
in the movie Free Willy,

00:01:06.923 --> 00:01:09.213
and the first computer mouse for Apple.

00:01:09.213 --> 00:01:13.119
Smith's ski goggles, Nike's sunglasses,
NEC computer screens.

00:01:13.119 --> 00:01:15.567
Hundreds of products
we take for granted.

00:01:15.567 --> 00:01:18.942
(Dave Kelley) The point is that
we're not actually experts

00:01:18.942 --> 00:01:22.000
at any given area, you know,
we're kind of experts

00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.161
on the process of how you design stuff.

00:01:24.161 --> 00:01:26.527
So we don't care if you
give us a toothbrush,

00:01:26.527 --> 00:01:30.329
a toothpaste tube, a tractor,
a space shuttle, you know a chair.

00:01:30.329 --> 00:01:32.034
It's all the same to us.

00:01:32.034 --> 00:01:34.814
We like want to figure out
how to innovate

00:01:34.814 --> 00:01:37.364
in- in-
by using our process applying it.

00:01:37.364 --> 00:01:39.578
(Jack Smith)
Project leader is Peter Skillman,

00:01:39.578 --> 00:01:41.378
a 35-year-old Stanford engineer.

00:01:41.378 --> 00:01:43.668
Project leader because
he's good with groups,

00:01:43.668 --> 00:01:45.542
not because of seniority.

00:01:45.542 --> 00:01:47.551
He's only been at IDEO for 6 years.

00:01:47.551 --> 00:01:50.832
The rest of the team is eclectic,
but that's typical here.

00:01:50.832 --> 00:01:52.944
Whitney Mortimer, Harvard MBA.

00:01:53.011 --> 00:01:54.952
Peter Coughlan, linguist.

00:01:54.952 --> 00:01:58.062
Tom Kelley, Dave's brother,
marketing expert.

00:01:58.062 --> 00:02:00.509
Jane Fulton Suri, psychologist.

00:02:00.509 --> 00:02:03.518
Alex Cassacks, 26,
a biology major,

00:02:03.518 --> 00:02:06.621
who's turned down
medical school 3 times

00:02:06.621 --> 00:02:09.146
because he's having too much fun
at IDEO.

00:02:09.146 --> 00:02:12.073
Safety emerges early
as an important issue.

00:02:12.073 --> 00:02:14.815
(Jane Fulton Suri)
22,000 child injuries a year.

00:02:14.815 --> 00:02:17.620
Which is,
so they are hospitalized injuries.

00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:19.588
I mean there are many others.

00:02:19.588 --> 00:02:21.565
(Jack Smith)
And theft.

00:02:21.565 --> 00:02:23.446
It turns out a lot of carts are stolen.

00:02:23.446 --> 00:02:24.408
As the team works,

00:02:24.408 --> 00:02:26.681
it becomes clear
there are no titles here.

00:02:26.681 --> 00:02:28.343
No permanent assignments.

00:02:28.343 --> 00:02:30.173
(Dave Kelley)
And the other side says,

00:02:30.173 --> 00:02:31.987
gives us a lot of help,
says "be safe".

00:02:33.087 --> 00:02:35.907
I give you a big red ball
on a on a on a post

00:02:35.907 --> 00:02:37.429
and that says you're a big guy.

00:02:37.429 --> 00:02:39.912
If you got a ball, you're
a senior vice president.

00:02:39.912 --> 00:02:42.574
Pfft. You know, what do I get,
the desk, a red ball?

00:02:42.574 --> 00:02:43.811
It's all the same.

00:02:43.811 --> 00:02:44.539
[laughing]

00:02:44.539 --> 00:02:46.805
In a very innovative culture,
you can't have

00:02:46.805 --> 00:02:48.889
a kind of hierarchy of
here's the boss,

00:02:48.889 --> 00:02:50.886
the next person down,
the next person down,

00:02:50.886 --> 00:02:53.337
the next person down,
because it's impossible

00:02:53.337 --> 00:02:54.981
that the boss is the one who's had

00:02:54.981 --> 00:02:56.930
the insightful experience
with shopping carts.

00:02:56.930 --> 00:02:58.087
It's just not possible.

00:02:58.087 --> 00:02:59.967
(Jack Smith)
The team splits into groups

00:03:00.067 --> 00:03:02.302
to find out first hand,
what the people who use,

00:03:02.302 --> 00:03:04.416
make and repair
shopping carts really think.

00:03:04.416 --> 00:03:05.707
(Dave Kelley)
Okay, go.

00:03:05.707 --> 00:03:08.287
(male store employee)
The problem with the plastic cart

00:03:08.287 --> 00:03:09.459
is the wind catches it.

00:03:09.459 --> 00:03:12.468
And these things have been clocked
at 35 across the parking lot.

00:03:12.468 --> 00:03:13.204
[laughing]

00:03:13.204 --> 00:03:15.866
(Alex Cassacks) Man, that's
actually a pretty good point.

00:03:15.866 --> 00:03:17.800
(Dave Kelley)
The trick is to find these real experts

00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:20.040
so that you can learn
much more quickly

00:03:20.040 --> 00:03:21.969
than you could
by just kind of doing it

00:03:21.969 --> 00:03:24.188
the normal way and
trying to learn about it yourself.

00:03:24.188 --> 00:03:25.334
(Peter Skillman)
From everything I read

00:03:25.334 --> 00:03:27.122
these things aren't that safe either.

00:03:27.122 --> 00:03:30.939
You know, um, so probably
the seat itself

00:03:30.939 --> 00:03:32.917
is gonna have to be redesigned.

00:03:32.917 --> 00:03:34.368
(Jane Fulton Suri)
One of the interesting things for me

00:03:34.368 --> 00:03:36.658
is looking at how people
really don't like to let go of the cart,

00:03:36.658 --> 00:03:38.365
except for the professional shopper,

00:03:38.365 --> 00:03:41.345
whose strategy is
to leave the cart at various places.

00:03:41.345 --> 00:03:42.345
(Jack Smith)
3:30 in the afternoon

00:03:42.345 --> 00:03:44.785
and the group is back at IDEO.

00:03:44.785 --> 00:03:46.231
There is no let up.

00:03:46.231 --> 00:03:49.236
(Peter Skillman)
Each team is going to demonstrate

00:03:49.236 --> 00:03:52.235
and communicate and share
everything that they've learned today.

00:03:52.235 --> 00:03:53.818
(Alex Cassacks)
A, uh, shopping cart

00:03:53.818 --> 00:03:56.094
has been clocked
at 35 miles an hour

00:03:56.094 --> 00:03:58.190
traveling through a parking lot
in the wind.

00:03:58.190 --> 00:04:00.630
(Peter Skillman)
We were in this store, what 2 hours,

00:04:00.630 --> 00:04:01.977
and it was truly frightening

00:04:01.977 --> 00:04:03.809
just to see the kind of stuff
going on.

00:04:03.809 --> 00:04:05.864
(Dave Kelley)
You gotta designate some people

00:04:05.864 --> 00:04:06.708
to make damn sure

00:04:06.708 --> 00:04:08.925
the store owner's point of view
is represented.

00:04:08.925 --> 00:04:11.359
(Jack Smith)
After nine straight hours the team is tired.

00:04:11.533 --> 00:04:12.969
They call it a day.

00:04:12.969 --> 00:04:15.493
(Peter Skillman)
So uh, well uh. That's great.

00:04:15.493 --> 00:04:17.497
Thanks a lot.
We had a great time today.

00:04:17.537 --> 00:04:20.537
[clapping]

00:04:20.987 --> 00:04:23.100
(Jack Smith)
IDEO's mantra for innovation

00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:24.614
is written everywhere.

00:04:24.614 --> 00:04:26.271
"One conversation at a time.

00:04:26.271 --> 00:04:27.794
Stay focused.

00:04:27.794 --> 00:04:29.515
Encourage wild ideas.

00:04:29.515 --> 00:04:31.043
Defer judgment.

00:04:31.043 --> 00:04:32.595
Build on the ideas of others."

00:04:32.595 --> 00:04:34.657
(Peter Skillman)
Uh, that's the hardest thing

00:04:34.657 --> 00:04:37.114
for people to do
is to restrain themselves

00:04:37.114 --> 00:04:39.643
from criticizing an idea.

00:04:39.643 --> 00:04:41.613
So if anybody starts
to nail an idea,

00:04:41.613 --> 00:04:42.867
they get the bell.

00:04:42.867 --> 00:04:44.037
[bell ring]

00:04:44.037 --> 00:04:45.845
(Jack Smith)
The ideas pour out

00:04:45.845 --> 00:04:47.265
and are posted on the walls.

00:04:47.265 --> 00:04:49.479
(Peter Skillman)
The blind.. the privacy blind.

00:04:49.479 --> 00:04:51.889
Like when you're buying
6 cases of condoms

00:04:55.864 --> 00:04:58.037
(Dave Kelley)
Organized chaos. It's not organized. Um.

00:04:51.889 --> 00:04:52.854
no one can see it.

00:04:52.854 --> 00:04:55.864
(Peter Skillman) If it doesn't nest,
we don't have the solution.

00:04:58.062 --> 00:05:00.442
What it is, is it's focused chaos.

00:05:00.458 --> 00:05:03.642
(Peter Skillman)
It's not this idea that's cool,

00:05:03.642 --> 00:05:05.910
but an idea that's cool and buildable.

00:05:05.910 --> 00:05:09.819
If it's too far out there
and can't be built in a day,

00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:11.724
then I don't think we should vote on it.

00:05:11.724 --> 00:05:15.181
Enlightened trial and error
succeeds over the planning

00:05:15.181 --> 00:05:16.206
of a lone genius.

00:05:16.206 --> 00:05:18.177
(Jack Smith)
Enlightened trial and error

00:05:18.177 --> 00:05:20.362
succeeds over the planning
of the lone genius.

00:05:20.362 --> 00:05:23.973
If anything sums up
IDEO's approach, that is it.

00:05:24.002 --> 00:05:27.851
Worried that the team is drifting,
what can only be called a group

00:05:27.851 --> 00:05:30.648
of self-appointed adults
under Dave Kelley,

00:05:30.656 --> 00:05:33.036
holds an informal side session.

00:05:33.036 --> 00:05:34.539
(Peter Skillman)
Four or five people.

00:05:34.539 --> 00:05:38.177
Four or five teams
and we give each team a need area.

00:05:38.177 --> 00:05:40.240
(Peter Skillman)
It becomes very autocratic

00:05:40.277 --> 00:05:43.377
for a very short period of time
in defining what things

00:05:43.387 --> 00:05:44.917
people are going to work on.

00:05:44.956 --> 00:05:46.246
(Dave Kelley) If you don't
work on time constraints,

00:05:46.246 --> 00:05:49.294
you could never get anything done,
because it's a messy process

00:05:49.303 --> 00:05:50.463
that can go on forever.

00:05:51.765 --> 00:05:53.855
(Jack Smith)
Back at the shop, it is 6:00.

00:05:53.855 --> 00:05:56.156
Four mock ups are ready for showing.

00:05:56.156 --> 00:05:58.008
(Tom Kelley)
Baskets also can be used.

00:05:58.064 --> 00:06:00.144
If you think
you will have more volume,

00:06:00.144 --> 00:06:01.641
baskets can be put in.

00:06:01.641 --> 00:06:03.441
(Jack Smith)
A modular shopping cart,

00:06:03.441 --> 00:06:04.991
you pile hand baskets onto.

00:06:04.991 --> 00:06:08.712
A high tech cart that gets you
through the traffic jam at checkout.

00:06:08.712 --> 00:06:11.438
(IDEO team member 1)
You could mount a scanner

00:06:11.438 --> 00:06:15.438
on the shopping cart
that you as the customer,

00:06:15.438 --> 00:06:18.000
as you pull it off the shelf,
could scan each item.

00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.602
(Jack Smith)
One that's built

00:06:19.602 --> 00:06:20.977
around child safety.

00:06:20.977 --> 00:06:23.701
And another that
lets shoppers talk

00:06:23.701 --> 00:06:25.347
to the supermarket staff remotely.

00:06:25.347 --> 00:06:27.739
(IDEO team member 2)
Where can I find the yogurt?

00:06:27.739 --> 00:06:30.359
(voice on speaker)
Yogurt is over in the dairy section.

00:06:30.359 --> 00:06:31.936
(Jack Smith)
But the adults again decide

00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:34.149
more work needs to be done
before the mock ups

00:06:34.149 --> 00:06:36.150
can be combined
into one last prototype.

00:06:36.150 --> 00:06:37.518
(Peter Skillman)
Why don't we

00:06:37.526 --> 00:06:39.786
have all of the carts
come up here for a second.

00:06:39.786 --> 00:06:41.506
(Dave Kelley)
I think you take a piece

00:06:41.506 --> 00:06:43.903
of each one of these ideas
and kind of back it off

00:06:43.903 --> 00:06:45.903
a little bit
and then put it in the design.

00:06:45.911 --> 00:06:47.911
(Jack Smith)
The design is still not there,

00:06:47.911 --> 00:06:49.549
but there is
another motto at IDEO.

00:06:49.549 --> 00:06:51.981
"Fail often in order
to succeed sooner."

00:06:51.981 --> 00:06:54.336
And some of the team
will be up half the night

00:06:54.336 --> 00:06:57.437
trying to put together
a design that finally does work.

00:06:57.437 --> 00:06:59.365
(Peter Skillman)
There it is!

00:06:59.510 --> 00:07:01.130
[cheering]

00:07:02.693 --> 00:07:04.181
(Peter Skillman)
So we took the best elements

00:07:04.241 --> 00:07:05.696
out of each prototype.

00:07:05.746 --> 00:07:07.707
(Jack Smith)
The cart which is designed

00:07:07.717 --> 00:07:10.221
to cost about the same
as today's carts is different

00:07:10.278 --> 00:07:12.258
in every other way.

00:07:12.343 --> 00:07:13.433
(Jack Smith)
What do you think?

00:07:13.492 --> 00:07:14.202
[laughing]

00:07:14.327 --> 00:07:16.427
(Dave Kelley)
Well I'm very proud of the team.

00:07:16.514 --> 00:07:17.457
I think it's great.

00:07:17.457 --> 00:07:19.167
(Jack Smith)
Does this work for you?

00:07:19.167 --> 00:07:20.644
(Dave Kelly)
Works for me great.

00:07:20.644 --> 00:07:21.652
It's also beautiful!

00:07:21.652 --> 00:07:23.852
(Jack Smith)
The cart's wheels turn 90 degrees

00:07:23.852 --> 00:07:25.093
so it can move sideways.

00:07:25.093 --> 00:07:27.250
No more lifting up
the rear in a tight spot

00:07:27.250 --> 00:07:30.049
and you shop
in a totally different way.

00:07:30.049 --> 00:07:33.374
The bags are hung on hooks
on the cart's frame.

00:07:33.374 --> 00:07:35.582
Remember there is no basket here.

00:07:35.582 --> 00:07:38.292
(female store employee)
At first I was a little shocked,

00:07:38.292 --> 00:07:41.377
but I think you have
some fantastic ideas here.

00:07:41.377 --> 00:07:44.606
It needs a little refining,
but I think that it's great.

00:07:44.606 --> 00:07:45.851
I mean we would want them.

00:07:45.851 --> 00:07:47.393
(Peter Skillman)
She also gave us

00:07:47.405 --> 00:07:49.345
some really good comments
on how we could

00:07:49.345 --> 00:07:50.442
make this thing better.

00:07:50.442 --> 00:07:51.738
(Jack Smith)
A lot of hours.

00:07:51.738 --> 00:07:55.376
Also, an open mind,
a boss who demands fresh ideas.

00:07:55.376 --> 00:07:56.831
Be quirky and clash with his.

00:07:56.831 --> 00:07:59.798
A belief that chaos
can be constructive

00:07:59.798 --> 00:08:01.100
and teamwork.

00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:03.189
A great deal of teamwork.

00:08:03.299 --> 00:08:07.299
And these are the recipe
for how innovation takes place.

00:08:07.332 --> 00:08:08.713
[cheering]

00:08:08.713 --> 00:08:10.343
This is Jack Smith for Nightline.

00:08:10.353 --> 00:08:11.813
Palo Alto, California.