ABC Nightline - IDEO Shopping Cart

[cuckoo clock chiming]

(male host)
Tonight, the deep dive.

One company's
secret weapon for innovation.

[jazz music]

We went to IDEO,
the product design folk,

and said take something old and familiar,
like say the shopping cart,

and completely redesign it for us

in just five days.

ABC News correspondent,
Jack Smith,

tells us what happened next.

(Jack Smith)
Nine in the morning, day one.

And these people
have a deadline to meet.

(male)
So welcome to the kick off

of the shopping cart project.

(Jack Smith)
This is Palo Alto,

California,
in the heart of Silicon Valley,

and these are designers at IDEO,

probably the most influential
product development firm

in the world.

IDEO has designed everything

from hi-tech medical equipment,

to the 25-foot mechanical whale
in the movie Free Willy,

and the first computer mouse for Apple.

Smith's ski goggles, Nike's sunglasses,
NEC computer screens.

Hundreds of products
we take for granted.

(Dave Kelley) The point is that
we're not actually experts

at any given area, you know,
we're kind of experts

on the process of how you design stuff.

So we don't care if you
give us a toothbrush,

a toothpaste tube, a tractor,
a space shuttle, you know a chair.

It's all the same to us.

We like want to figure out
how to innovate

in- in-
by using our process applying it.

(Jack Smith)
Project leader is Peter Skillman,

a 35-year-old Stanford engineer.

Project leader because
he's good with groups,

not because of seniority.

He's only been at IDEO for 6 years.

The rest of the team is eclectic,
but that's typical here.

Whitney Mortimer, Harvard MBA.

Peter Coughlan, linguist.

Tom Kelley, Dave's brother,
marketing expert.

Jane Fulton Suri, psychologist.

Alex Cassacks, 26,
a biology major,

who's turned down
medical school 3 times

because he's having too much fun
at IDEO.

Safety emerges early
as an important issue.

(Jane Fulton Suri)
22,000 child injuries a year.

Which is,
so they are hospitalized injuries.

I mean there are many others.

(Jack Smith)
And theft.

It turns out a lot of carts are stolen.

As the team works,

it becomes clear
there are no titles here.

No permanent assignments.

(Dave Kelley)
And the other side says,

gives us a lot of help,
says "be safe".

I give you a big red ball
on a on a on a post

and that says you're a big guy.

If you got a ball, you're
a senior vice president.

Pfft. You know, what do I get,
the desk, a red ball?

It's all the same.

[laughing]

In a very innovative culture,
you can't have

a kind of hierarchy of
here's the boss,

the next person down,
the next person down,

the next person down,
because it's impossible

that the boss is the one who's had

the insightful experience
with shopping carts.

It's just not possible.

(Jack Smith)
The team splits into groups

to find out first hand,
what the people who use,

make and repair
shopping carts really think.

(Dave Kelley)
Okay, go.

(male store employee)
The problem with the plastic cart

is the wind catches it.

And these things have been clocked
at 35 across the parking lot.

[laughing]

(Alex Cassacks) Man, that's
actually a pretty good point.

(Dave Kelley)
The trick is to find these real experts

so that you can learn
much more quickly

than you could
by just kind of doing it

the normal way and
trying to learn about it yourself.

(Peter Skillman)
From everything I read

these things aren't that safe either.

You know, um, so probably
the seat itself

is gonna have to be redesigned.

(Jane Fulton Suri)
One of the interesting things for me

is looking at how people
really don't like to let go of the cart,

except for the professional shopper,

whose strategy is
to leave the cart at various places.

(Jack Smith)
3:30 in the afternoon

and the group is back at IDEO.

There is no let up.

(Peter Skillman)
Each team is going to demonstrate

and communicate and share
everything that they've learned today.

(Alex Cassacks)
A, uh, shopping cart

has been clocked
at 35 miles an hour

traveling through a parking lot
in the wind.

(Peter Skillman)
We were in this store, what 2 hours,

and it was truly frightening

just to see the kind of stuff
going on.

(Dave Kelley)
You gotta designate some people

to make damn sure

the store owner's point of view
is represented.

(Jack Smith)
After nine straight hours the team is tired.

They call it a day.

(Peter Skillman)
So uh, well uh. That's great.

Thanks a lot.
We had a great time today.

[clapping]

(Jack Smith)
IDEO's mantra for innovation

is written everywhere.

"One conversation at a time.

Stay focused.

Encourage wild ideas.

Defer judgment.

Build on the ideas of others."

(Peter Skillman)
Uh, that's the hardest thing

for people to do
is to restrain themselves

from criticizing an idea.

So if anybody starts
to nail an idea,

they get the bell.

[bell ring]

(Jack Smith)
The ideas pour out

and are posted on the walls.

(Peter Skillman)
The blind.. the privacy blind.

Like when you're buying
6 cases of condoms

no one can see it.

(Peter Skillman) If it doesn't nest,
we don't have the solution.

(Dave Kelley)
Organized chaos. It's not organized. Um.

What it is, is it's focused chaos.

(Peter Skillman)
It's not this idea that's cool,

but an idea that's cool and buildable.

If it's too far out there
and can't be built in a day,

then I don't think we should vote on it.

Enlightened trial and error
succeeds over the planning

of a lone genius.

(Jack Smith)
Enlightened trial and error

succeeds over the planning
of the lone genius.

If anything sums up
IDEO's approach, that is it.

Worried that the team is drifting,
what can only be called a group

of self-appointed adults
under Dave Kelley,

holds an informal side session.

(Peter Skillman)
Four or five people.

Four or five teams
and we give each team a need area.

(Peter Skillman)
It becomes very autocratic

for a very short period of time
in defining what things

people are going to work on.

(Dave Kelley) If you don't
work on time constraints,

you could never get anything done,
because it's a messy process

that can go on forever.

(Jack Smith)
Back at the shop, it is 6:00.

Four mock ups are ready for showing.

(Tom Kelley)
Baskets also can be used.

If you think
you will have more volume,

baskets can be put in.

(Jack Smith)
A modular shopping cart,

you pile hand baskets onto.

A high tech cart that gets you
through the traffic jam at checkout.

(IDEO team member 1)
You could mount a scanner

on the shopping cart
that you as the customer,

as you pull it off the shelf,
could scan each item.

(Jack Smith)
One that's built

around child safety.

And another that
lets shoppers talk

to the supermarket staff remotely.

(IDEO team member 2)
Where can I find the yogurt?

(voice on speaker)
Yogurt is over in the dairy section.

(Jack Smith)
But the adults again decide

more work needs to be done
before the mock ups

can be combined
into one last prototype.

(Peter Skillman)
Why don't we

have all of the carts
come up here for a second.

(Dave Kelley)
I think you take a piece

of each one of these ideas
and kind of back it off

a little bit
and then put it in the design.

(Jack Smith)
The design is still not there,

but there is
another motto at IDEO.

"Fail often in order
to succeed sooner."

And some of the team
will be up half the night

trying to put together
a design that finally does work.

(Peter Skillman)
There it is!

[cheering]

(Peter Skillman)
So we took the best elements

out of each prototype.

(Jack Smith)
The cart which is designed

to cost about the same
as today's carts is different

in every other way.

(Jack Smith)
What do you think?

[laughing]

(Dave Kelley)
Well I'm very proud of the team.

I think it's great.

(Jack Smith)
Does this work for you?

(Dave Kelly)
Works for me great.

It's also beautiful!

(Jack Smith)
The cart's wheels turn 90 degrees

so it can move sideways.

No more lifting up
the rear in a tight spot

and you shop
in a totally different way.

The bags are hung on hooks
on the cart's frame.

Remember there is no basket here.

(female store employee)
At first I was a little shocked,

but I think you have
some fantastic ideas here.

It needs a little refining,
but I think that it's great.

I mean we would want them.

(Peter Skillman)
She also gave us

some really good comments
on how we could

make this thing better.

(Jack Smith)
A lot of hours.

Also, an open mind,
a boss who demands fresh ideas.

Be quirky and clash with his.

A belief that chaos
can be constructive

and teamwork.

A great deal of teamwork.

And these are the recipe
for how innovation takes place.

[cheering]

This is Jack Smith for Nightline.

Palo Alto, California.