The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from Ideo, America's Leading Design Firm

I kept taking pictures of the pages to share monumentally poor predictions and dead companies that were lifted up. The other reviews are 23+ years old...

I come to this book as a designer, manager, technologist, and cog in the wheel.I was very skeptical when I picked up this book. It's hard to summarize innovation or clearly articulate the techniques used to get there (many have tried and failed). By it's very nature, innovation goes against the status quo, and institutionalizing it and codifying it seems an impossible task. To find the balance between beauracracy and chaos is a fine talent.I was surprised to find that this book delivers. Yes, it's written from a management point of view, and talks about staffing and running meetings, issues involving acquring and laying out office space, etc. However, the insights into these activities are great.The chapter on "How to run a brainstorming meeting" is a real gem. Perhaps Peter Drucker laid out important rules for focused meetings in The Effective Executive, but here Kelly delivers rules for keeping everyone open, receptive, and creative.Some of the negative reviews of this book seem to be from a design/creativity point of view. People looking for the formula for creativity (we took widget "a" and put on our creativity caps and out came not only the solution to our problem, but an innovation that revolutionized the world). This book doesn't give you that. It does give you a method for constructing a company, or department, or even a meeting in a way that encourages experimentation, creativity, and excitement.I would recommend this book (along with the aforementioned Peter Drucker book) to anyone who manages people, or works with people and wants them to be more creative, more open, and more excited about their jobs. I'm slowly creeping these ideas into my corporate environment and fully expect spectacular results.

There are dozens of excellent books which discuss innovation. This is one of the best but don't be misled by the title, "Lessons in creativity from IDEO, America's leading design firm." Unlike almost all other authors of worthy books on the same subject, Kelley does NOT organize his material in terms of a sequence of specific "lessons"...nor does he inundate his reader with checklists, "executive summaries", bullet points, do's and don'ts, "key points", etc. Rather, he shares what I guess you could characterize as "stories" based on real-world situations in which he and his IDEO associates solved various problems when completing industrial design assignments for their clients. "We've linked those organizational achievements to specific methodologies and tools you can use to build innovation into your own organization...[However, IDEO's] `secret formula' is actually not very formulaic. It's a blend of of methodologies, work practices, culture, and infrastructure. Methodology alone is not enough." One of the greatest benefits of the book is derived from direct access to that "blend" when activated. It is extremely difficult to overcome what James O'Toole characterizes, in Leading Change, as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." He and Kelley seem to be kindred spirits: Both fully understand how and why truly innovative thinking encounters so much resistance within organizations. Whereas O'Toole suggests all manner of strategies to overcome that resistance, Kelley concentrates on the combination ("blend") of ingredients which, when integrated and then applied with both rigor and passion, may (just may) produce what Jobs once referred to as "insanely great." What both O'Toole and Kelley have in mind is creating and sustaining an innovative culture, one from within which "insanely great" ideas can result in breakthrough products and (yes) services. "Loosely described", Kelley shares IDEO's five-step methodology: Understand the market, the client, the technology, and the perceived constraints on the given problem; observe real people in real-life situations; literally visualize new-to-the-world concepts AND the customers who will use them; evaluate and refine the prototypes in a series of quick iterations; and finally, implement the new concept for commercialization. With regard to the last "step", as Bennis explains in Organizing Genius, Apple executives immediately recognized the commercial opportunities for PARC's technology. Larry Tesler (who later left PARC for Apple) noted that Jobs and companions "wanted to get it out to the world." But first, obviously, create that "it." Kelley and his associates at IDEO have won numerous awards for designing all manner of innovative products such as the Apple mouse, the Palm Pilot, a one-piece fishing mechanism for children, the in-vehicle beverage holder, toothpaste tubes that don't "gunk up" in the cap area, "mud-free" water bottles for mountain bikers, a small digital camera for the handspri

This book is a milestone -- not in technique or in philosophy -- but in the author's clear, readable style of communication with the reader. Tom Kelley brings the process of contextual design to life, with stories, annecdotes, and great illustrative examples of how sharp minds solve problems. He points out the simple things that make our lives easier, and the bonehead decisions companies make without asking customers how they'll really use their products. It's more than insight -- it's a guide you can use. No matter what business you're in, if you rely on creativity to improve your business, this book is a must-have tool. Few authors are as passionate, knowledgeable, and articulate on their subject matter as Tom Kelley. I look forward to his next book!

After decades of thinking otherwise, I now believe that "creativity" can be taught -- or, at the very least, inspired! Tom Kelley has written a magical book. Not often have I read a work of non-fiction in a single sitting; nor found myself chuckling (and at times laughing aloud) at what could easily serve as an Engineering or B-School text.Kelley "catches" the spirit of the creative process and seemlessly "pegs it" right back at the reader with the grace and fluidity of an allstar shortstop! This is an amazing book that will inspire anyone with problems to solve and victories to win! I strongly recommend it.

Prior to this one, the only books I've read in under two days were by J. K. Rowling (I'm over 30, mind you). Its hard to beat Rowling on her story-telling ability, but Kelley comes close in his vivid, engaging and living stories of that magical world called IDEO. This book is a business book, but it is unlike any I've read. It is based on the FACTS and real life experience of a company that is out there living and doing what they preach (and the preaching is so clearly secondary). This was a great read--the writing flows well, and is very conversational. Not every company can be IDEO, but one can dream...