IDEO: Shopping Cart Design Process

(upbeat music)

[Ted Koppel] It used to be
that you deferred to the boss.

[Male Speaker] Is it the boss
that's always going to have

the best ideas?
Not likely.

[Archived Footage Male Speaker]
Here, nibble fingers,

alert minds, and
tireless machines...

[Ted Koppel] And it used
to be in most companies

that chaos was discouraged.

(mechanical noises)

[Dave Kelley] This is where
the crazies live.

This is where we do our work.
It's different.

[Female Speaker] Good
morning. Good Morning. Good...

[Ted Koppel] It used to be
you were supposed to climb

the corporate ladder.

[Dave Kelley] Status is
who comes up with

the best ideas,
not who's the oldest,

not who's been with
the company longest,

not who has that biggest title.

If you go into a culture

and there's a bunch of stiffs
going around, I can guarantee

they're not likely to invent anything.

(bell ringing)

[Male Worker] You can stack
this up big, as big as you want.

(machine whirring)

[Male Speaker 2] That's great.
Thanks a lot.

And we had a great time today.

[Ted Koppel] Well,
forget the way it used to be.

Tonight, the deep dive.

One company's secret
weapon for innovation.

(cuckoo clock)

(trumpeting intro)

[Ted Koppel] A lot further along
in this broadcast, near the end

as a matter of fact,
you will hear

one of the central characters
suggest that we look around.

The only thing that's not designed
by anybody, he will say, is nature.

Actually, you could say
the same thing by observing

that the only designs that don't
require a constant modification

are the ones we find in nature,

but the point is well taken.

From the buildings in which
we live and work

to the cars we drive
or the knives and forks

with which we eat,

everything we use was designed
to create some sort of marraige

between form and function.

Does it work and can we make
it look interesting or attractive?

What is truly amazing is how
long we tend to put up with things

that may not work particularly well,
or it may look especially

unattractive simply because
we're accustomed to them

and because no one has ever
suggested redesigning

those things.

There's an interesting distinction
between design and invention.

Whoever came up with the idea
of dental floss, for example,

was an inventor,
but the man or woman

who put it inside that clever
little plastic box

that lets you tear off
just the right length?

That was a designer.

Now, how does the process of
designing a better product work?

And would it be interesting
to watch that process?

When we first broadcast this
program back in February,

we weren't at all sure what
you would think,

but judging by the number of you
who ordered video cassettes

of the program and the number
of people who contacted

the industrial product design firm
that is featured in this program,

you liked it
a lot.

Here was the premise
of the program.

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.

[Dave Kelley] So welcome to the
kickoff of the shopping cart project.

[Smith] This is Palo Alto, California
in the heart of Silicon Valley,

and these are designers at IDEO,
probably the most influencial

product development firm
in the world.

Designers are the reason
TVs have square screens,

chairs four legs,
and toothbrushes nowadays

those squishy handles.

In fact, it was IDEO that
designed those squishy handles.

IDEO has designed everything
from high-tech medical equipment

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

and the first computer mouse
for Apple.

Smith ski goggles,
Nike sunglasses,

NEC computer screens.

Hundreds of products
we take for granted.

[Dave Kelley] This is
called the Neat Squeeze

toothpaste tube
which...

[Smith]
You invented that?

[Smith] The man who runs
IDEO is Dave Kelley,

a Stanford engineering professor
which a Groucho Marx mustache,

a data genius, and an approach
to innovation that usually works.

[Dave Kelley] Well,
thank you, Fred.

[Smith] But not always.

[Kelley] Thanks a lot.

I can show you some
products that failed.

Came up with this idea
called Monster Shoes

where you take these little
monsters and lace them

into your shoes
like this,

and we built a bunch of them,
and they didn't want those, either.

[Smith] Mostly, what IDEO designs,
though, does work,

and it works very well.

Dave and his design teams create
about 90 new products every year.

[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.

[Smith] And so,
for the next five days,

the team will apply that process
to bringing the supermarket

shopping cart into the 21st century.

[Peter Skillman] I think first we
should maybe all acknowledge

that it's kind of insane
to do an entire project

in a week.

[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 six years.

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

Whitney Mortimer, Harvard MBA.

Peter Coughlin, linguist.

Tom Kelley, Dave's brother,
marketing expert.

Jane Fulton Surrey, psychologist.

Alex Cassacks, 26, a biology major
who's turned down medical school

three times because he's having
too much fun at IDEO.

(laughter)

[Skillman] It's climbing up
and doing this.

(indistinctive conversation)

[Smith] Safety emerges early
as an important issue.

[Surrey] 22,000
child injuries a year

which is--and so they're
hospitalized injuries,

and, I mean, there
are many others...

[Skillman] That's just reported
in the store, that's--

they actually have to
go to the emergency room.

[Surrey] No, no, no, no, no.
That's hospitalized. Right.

(multiple voices)
Wow.

[Smith] And theft. It turns out
a lot of carts are stolen.

[Blonde Man] You know,
what is the average life of a cart?

Does it last two years,
five years, ten years?

And how big is this theft thing?

[Smith] 10a.m.

As the team works,
it becomes clear

there are no titles here.

No permanent assignments.

[Kelley] And the other side
says-- it gives a lot of help--

says, "be safe."

(laughter)

[Smith] Everyone appears
to be equal, and they love to mock

Corporate America.

[Kelley] I'll give you status,
I'll give you a big, red ball

on a post, and that says,
you're a big guy.

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

Pfft. You know, what do I care?
The desk, the red ball?

It's all the same.

(laughter)

[Kelley] In a very innovative culture,
you can have a kind of hierarchy

of, here's the boss and
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.

[Smith] According to Kelley,
even employees who merely

listen to the boss, don't add
that much, either.

[Kelley] So you've got to hire
people who don't listen to you,

and that--I don't think Corporate
America wants to hear that

right yet.

[Skillman] And I think we ought
to start making those lists

about the kinds of questions
that we're going to ask.

[Smith] The team splits into
groups to find out first-hand

what the people who use,
make, and repair shopping carts

really think.

[Kelley] Okay, go.

[Cart Expert] The problem
with the plastic cart is

the wind catches it.

[Blonde Man] Yeah.

[Cart Expert] And these things
have been clocked at 35

across the parking lot.

(laughter)

[Cassacks] Man, that's actually
a pretty good point.

[Kelley] The trick is to find
these real experts,

and--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.

[Customer] From everything I read,
these things aren't that safe either.

You know.

So, probably the seat itself
is going to have to be redesigned.

[Kelley] What you're seeing here
is kind of the social science

like anthropologists - you know,
like you go and study tribes.

What is it that they do
that we can learn from

that will help us
design a better cart?

[Surrey] 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.

[Kelley] In Corporate America,
many bosses, like, measure

whether their people are,
you know, who the good people

or the people who are performing,
the one's they see at their desks

all the time.

That couldn't be further
from the truth.

The people who are really getting
the information are out here

talking to the Buzz's of the world,
going to meet other experts.

Much more useful than
sitting at your desk.

[Smith] 3:30 in the afternoon,
and the group is back at IDEO.

There is no let up.

(drilling sound)

[Skillman] Each team is going
to demonstrate and communicate

and share everything that
they've learned today.

People went off into the
four corners of the Earth,

and they're coming back
with the golden keys

to innovation.

[Cassacks] A shopping cart has
been clocked at 35 miles an hour

traveling through a
parking lot in the wind.

[IDEO Team Member] We were in
the store, what, two hours?

And it was truly frightening just
to see the kind of stuff going on.

[Kelley] You got to designate
some people to make damn sure

that the store owner's
point of view is represented.

[Smith] After nine straight hours,
the team is tired.

They call it a day.

[Skillman] So, um...

[Kelley] Everybody cool?

[Skillman] Well, uh, that's great.
Thanks a lot. We had a great time

today.

(clapping)

(transition music)

[Skillman] We want to get
together and start here.

[Smith] Day two at the start
of IDEO's unique brand

of brainstorming.

They call it a "deep dive."
A sort of total emersion

in the problem at hand.

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.

(bell chiming)

[Skillman] 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 chiming)

[Smith] The deep dive begins,
and for the next few hours,

the ideas pour out
and are posted on the walls.

[Skillman] Oh, the blind,
the privacy blind.

Like when you're buying
six cases of condoms,

and no one sees.

(laughter)

[Skillman] Nesting is...
It sort of has to nest.

If it doesn't nest,
we don't have a solution.

[Cassacks] How about velcro pants
and velcro seats for the kids,

and you just drop them
down in there and...

[Smith] Velcro seats?
Velcro pants for kids?

[Kelley] Yeah, see, you have
to have some wild ideas,

if--then you build
on those wild ideas,

and they end up being
better ideas then if you said--

if you--if everybody only came up
with same things, you know,

kind of appropriate things, you'd
never have any points to take off,

to build a really innovative idea.

[Smith]
It's organized chaos.

[Kelley] Organized chaos...?
It's not organized.

What it is is it's focused chaos.

[Smith] By 11 a.m., the group
begins narrowing down

the hundreds of ideas written
or drawn on the walls.

How? By voting for them.

[Skillman] Vote with your post-its,
not with an idea that's cool,

but with an idea that's cool
and buildable.

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

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

[Smith] Why not have
you be the judge?

You're the boss.

[Skillman] Because, because
I'm going to be wrong.

It's the team that's able to really
judge what the best idea is.

(tapping)

[Smith] Otherwise, ideas
wouldn't come out?

[Skillman] That's right.

Enlightened trial and error
succeeds over the planning

of the lone genius.

[Smith] Enlightened trial and error
succeeds over the planning

of the lone genius.

If anything sums up IDEOs
approach, that is it.

That and the focused chaos
that seems to go with it.

[Green-shirted Male] I took a view.
I call it the sport-utility vehicle cart.

[Smith] It is noon. 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.

[Skillman] We don't want
to tell them what to build

or else we take away the benefit
of the whole thing, right?

[Kelley] What needs should
they optimize their solution to?

[Smith] The purpose is
to refocus the deep dive.

[Skillman] Maybe we arbitrarily say,
three to five teams.

Four or five teams.

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

Hey, can we grab everybody
over to the wall here?

(bell ringing)

[Skillman] There has to be
a command decision.

It becomes very autocratic
for a very short period of time

in defining what things people
are going to work on.

[Smith] Like it or not,
the team is told

that we'll split into groups
to build mock-ups

covering four areas of concern
that have been identified.

(bell ringing)

[Smith] Shopping, safety, checkout,
and finding what you're looking for.

I noticed towards the end of
the process, the adults took over.

[Kelley] Yeah, that's because
we have no choice but to stop

that cycle.

I mean, if you don't work
under time constraints,

you could never get anything done

because it's a messy process
that can go on forever.

(machine whirling)

[Smith] While the team starts
building prototypes,

Dave Kelley takes me on
a tour of the rest of IDEO.

[Kelley] What's happening in
here is that's a client meeting.

That's a first client meeting.
That's the first time we've met

with the client, so we
haven't trained them yet.

(laughing)

[Kelley] If we took them straight
from there in to a room

where the music was blaring
and everybody was throwing

nerf darts at each other,
that would be a little hard to take.

You know, so we're
warming them up.

But this is, this is where
the crazies live.

This is where we do our work.
It's different.

You can tell whether a place
is playful in about the first

fifteen minutes as you walk
down the hall.

(gears unwinding)

[Kelley] Being playful is of huge
importance for being innovative.

I mean, if you go into a culture,
and there's a bunch of stiffs

going around, they're not--
I can guarantee they're a lot--

they're not likely to invent anything.

[Smith] Invent anything like this
futuristic-looking instrument

for kids.

(energetic music)

[Smith] So no matter what
you do with that thing,

you always sound--

[Kelley] You sound great.

[Smith] You always sound good.

[Kelley] You have to make it
so that this can happen.

(computer thuds)

[Smith] Woah. It didn't break?

[Kelley] No, it didn't break.

(cymbals clapping)

(bell ringing)

[Smith] There's a whole
department at IDEO

devoted to toys.

Turns out to be one of its
most profitable areas.

Fun, too.

[Kelley] So it's got these little wings
that no matter what you do...

If I get in trouble here...

It's always a spiral.

(cuckoo clock chiming)

[Smith] At IDEO, they've found
that fresh ideas come faster

in a fun place.

Not only is the furniture on wheels
to suit the needs of the moment,

the people are encouraged
to actually build their own

work areas.

[Kelley] They were designing
this space, and they said to me,

you know, we'd like to
have, you know, $4,000

extra in our budget
for a DC3 wing,

and I said, DC3--
you have to have that?

And they said, yeah,
they have to have it, so...

[Smith] That's a DC3 wing?

[Kelley] Piece of a DC3 wing, yeah.

[Smith] And that's just décor?

[Kelley] That's décor. That's
ambiance, you know,

that says, we're weird,
and we're proud of it.

[Smith] Umbrellas on the ceiling
to shade computer screens

from direct sunlight,

and bicycles on ropes
to prevent clutter.

[Kelley] The first guy who hung
a bike up on a thing,

he didn't come to me
and ask me.

He didn't ask some facilities
person if it was okay.

He tried it.

And then, like, he waited
and saw if anybody complained.

If nobody complained,
another guy hung a bike up.

And pretty soon everybody's got
their bikes up, and nobody's

complained, right, so it's
that whole thing of trying stuff

and ask forgiveness, you know,
instead of asking permission.

It's the way people come
up with new ideas.

[Smith] IDEO has such
a reputation for innovation

that client companies are
increasingly asking Dave

not just for new products,
but also to remake

their corporate cultures.

You may be looking at the
workplace of the future here.

[Kelley] It's one thing to be able
to do a product once in a while,

but if you can build a culture
and a process where you

routinely come up with great ideas,

that's what the
companies really want.

[Male Speaker] Okay,
Peter, we're done.

[Smith] Back at the shop,
it is six o'clock.

The four mock-ups are
ready for showing.

[Male Speaker] Baskets also can
be--If you think you will have

more volume, baskets
can be put in.

[Smith] A modular shopping cart.
You pile handbaskets onto.

A high-tech cart that gets you
through the traffic jam

at checkout.

[Tan-shirted Man] You could mount
a scanner on the shopping cart

so that you as the customer,
as you pull it off the shelf,

could scan each item.

[Smith] One that's built
around child safety.

And another that lets shoppers
talk to the supermarket staff

remotely.

[Black-shirted Man] Yeah,
where can I find the yogurt?

[Voice through speaker] The
yogurt's over in the dairy section.

[Smith] But the adults, again,
decide more work needs

to be done before the mock-ups
can be combined into one

last prototype.

[Skillman] Why don't we have
all the carts come up here

for a second.

[Kelley] I think you'd 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.

[Smith] The design is still not there.

But there's 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.

(transition music)

[Smith] It is day five,
and Dave Kelley

has no idea what the final
cart looks like.

Only the team does.

[Kelley] If they kind of got their
heads down, they don't look at me,

I'm nervous, you know.

If they say, wait til you see it,
then I know we're in good shape.

So I'm getting, wait until you see it.
I think it's--that it'll be good.

[Team Members]
There it is!

(clapping and cheering)

[Skillman] So we took the best
elements out of each prototype,

designed this entire cart
in a day, and then

this cart was fabricated in a day
with an amazing team of people

in our machine shop
pulling this off,

working in shifts
throughout the night.

[Smith] Wow, I'm impressed.

[Skillman] So are we.

(laughing)

[Smith] The cart, which is
designed to cost about the same

as today's carts is different
in every other way.

Hand baskets that stack
in a metal frame

and major improvements for all.

[Skillman] You just lift
the handle up, you drop the--

put the children in,
and then you can close

the handle right over them,
and they instantly have some

little bit of a work surface
that they can play with.

[Smith] What do you think?

[Kelley] I'm very proud
of the team. I think it's great.

[Smith] Does this work for you?

[Kelley] It works for me great.
It's also beautiful.

I mean, let's, you know,
take it over to a local supermarket

and see what they say.

[Smith] Yeah, works really well.

The carts 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.

[British Man] Rather than taking
your cart everywhere you go

in the store, through
a crowded store like this,

it's much more efficient
to take a small basket,

rush around to where
the particular shelves are,

come back, and put them here.

And treat this as like a center
for your shopping.

[Smith] And with
a high-tech scanner,

so that in the future, you skip
the checkout traffic jam.

[Skillman] Here's how you
would scan an item.

You reach over and pick up
anything like this salad dressing,

and I would scan it,
and if I wanted to accept

that item, I would just press plus

and then drop it in my basket.

[Smith] Because stores don't
yet have those high-tech scanners

the team designed,
checking out today

means doing it
the old-fashioned way.

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

Remember, there is
no basket here.

Why get rid of the big basket?

[Skillman] The basket
is tyranny.

The basket it tyranny because
it's not really needed if all your stuff

ends up in bags,
why need the basket

in the first place?

[Smith] Talk to me about theft.

[Skillman] There's no value
in this cart without the baskets

because you can't carry anything
in it; it's useless to anybody.

You can't use it as a barbeque.

[Smith] So it's not going
to get stolen.

[Skillman] That's right.

[Smith] So there's a lot of appeal
to store owners then.

[Skillman] Yes.

[Store Clerk 1] I love it.
I think it looks great.

[Store Clerk 2] Yeah. 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.

[Skillman] It makes us feel great.
And she also gave us some

really good comments about how
we can make this thing better.

[Kelley] Just wherever you
are, look around.

The only thing that's not designed
by somebody is, like, nature.

So the trees are not designed by us,

but everything you see...
everything you see.

Every light fitting, every flower vase,
every scale, every stand for fruit.

Everything is designed, has to go
through this kind of process.

And they can do a better or worse
job of innovating or improving,

but everything is designed.

It has to go through this process.

[Smith] It wasn't this
effortless, "oh, my god,

so that's how it works"
thing that I saw there.

It was actually hard work.

[Kelley] It's a lot of hard work.

We all love it, so it doesn't
look like it's hard work.

But it's a lot of hours.

[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.

[clapping and cheering]

This is Jack Smith for Nightline
in Palo Alto, California.

[Ted Koppel] I'll be back with a
brief update on our story

in just a moment.

Incidentally, the Nightline shopping
cart won a Silver award in the

Industrial Design Excellence Awards,

and there's talk now of
developing it commercially.

That's our report for tonight.

I'm Ted Koppel in Washington.

For all of us here at
ABC News, goodnight.

[upbeat outro music]