|
|
|
|
|
The Art of Innovation
Lessons in Creativity From IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm
Tom Kelley and Jonathan Littman
Doubleday 2001
ISBN 0-385-49984-1
~US$20 from Amazon
|
The Ten Faces of Innovation
IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization
Tom Kelley and Jonathan Littman
Doubleday 2005
ISBN 0-385-51207-4
~US$20 from Amazon
|
|
Here at IsecT Ltd., we are proud of our record of innovation in relation to information security awareness.
Before we launched NoticeBored, the tiny security awareness, training and education market was dominated
by companies churning out rather mediocre security training courses, annual security awareness “sheep dip”
sessions and cartoon graphics more suited to kindergarten than the average professional audience.
Although we’re flattered to see certain others now promoting similar remarkably ideas (!), we were the first
to market a security awareness product providing monthly deliveries of high quality fully-editable awareness materials targeted at three key audience groups. We continue innovating by introducing new types of
awareness materials (including mind maps, crosswords, metrics papers and glossaries) and new awareness topics (e.g. database security, insider threats) when inspiration strikes.
However, IDEO’s approach to innovation is a real eye-opener and puts us to shame. In a glorious
celebration of the art, Tom Kelley describes IDEO’s deep passion for innovation. He explores the techniques
and people it takes to create fresh new ideas in sleepy industries that are otherwise set in their ways. The exhilaration of working in such a highly-charged creative atmosphere is quite infectious.
Both books cover essentially the same ground - IDEO - but from slightly different perspectives. Once you’ve
read one, many of the examples in the other will be familiar but a good story is worth re-telling.
The Art of Innovation explains many of IDEO’s creative techniques and in so doing paints a vivid picture of
the physical context in which all that creativity occurs, namely IDEO’s office, your average geek’s idea of
paradise brimming with high-tech prototypes, foam cubes, “tech box” caddies with giant Post-Its and
coloring pens ... and yes, it does look more like a playschool than Dilbertesque gray cubicle-land. Teamwork
, friendship and a shared passion for helping clients innovate is clearly what binds people together and
stimulates their creativity, while a supportive and forgiving management structure doesn’t just tolerate
weirdness, it actively encourages it. IDEO seems to have taken Tom Peters’ advice “If you want to do weird
, hire weird people” to the next level. In IDEO-land, “normal” people would probably stand out a mile.
Two creative techniques - brainstorming and prototyping - are particularly well described, in a way that
encourages the reader to try something different. I’ve learnt some new tricks and even started applying them since reading the book.
The Ten Faces of Innovation describes ten complementary personas - personality types or roles that contribute in different ways to creative teams:
Anthropologist - this is perhaps the most literal title, meaning people who have been professionally
trained as social anthropologists to observe people and processes and interactions ‘with a fresh eye’.
These are probably the biggest antidote to “But we’ve always done it like that” thinking. Experimenter - willing to take a chance, maybe, but also willing to explore alternatives and test
concepts through prototyping, trial-and-error and applied science. Cross-pollinator - like a bee flitting between the private parts of flowers, the cross-pollinator spreads
good ideas and techniques between specialisms, breaking down silos and sharing good practice Hurdler - able to leap tall buildings (well project hurdles anyway) in a single bound. They are adept at
finding ways over (or more likely around) around immovable obstacles to reduce the banging-your-head-against-a-wall bruising. Collaborator - knits people and teams together by finding common interests and objectives.
Sometimes described as the spider who weaves the web linking everyone to everyone else. Director - nothing to do with the title on her business card, the Director provides clarity and direction, a
rallying point for the troops yet with the humility to actively listen to input from the team. Experience architect - with an uncanny knack of putting themselves in the customer’s shoes,
experience architects can visualize products and services at the point of use, no mean feat when they are barely on the drawing board and even the customers are an unknown quantity. Set designer - this is a fascinating persona: someone who creates visual spaces and physical
representations relating to the job at hand. Not really office architects as such, set designers invent
scenarios and contexts. They are also comfortable to break unwritten rules and help people mix fun with work (now there’s a thought!). Caregiver - in the sense of nurses and doctors (no, not the teenage version), caregivers support their
colleagues, providing a sympathetic sounding board and gentle encouragement when times are tough, and motivating and inspiring people to give there all at all times. Storyteller - anyone familiar with The HP Way or the origins of Apple and Microsoft will recognize the
value of constantly telling and re-telling inspirational stories as a way of reinforcing corporate culture.
It’s clear that this is a comfortable personal for author Tom Kelley since both books quite literally tell a story.
Both books are peppered with genuine examples, most of which involve the genesis of familiar but once
remarkable products that broke the mold in some way - style, design, functionality, whatever. Some of you
reading this may have bought Palm V PDAs, for instance, on the strength of their sleek looks and brilliant
user interface - the Graffiti stylus script language so close to English that anyone can pick it up with a few
minutes’ practice. How many of you appreciate the innovative use of glue instead of screws to bond the
Palm V’s case together, or the flat-pack lithium batteries inside? Like many other examples, the attention to
detail and the multiple overlapping layers of innovation go well beyond the obvious external visual cues. This is innovation-in-depth.
Whether you are interested in applying innovation and creativity to security awareness, other work initiatives
or indeed life in general, these books are inspirational, instructional and fun to read - what a combination. Highly recommended.
|
