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

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

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $19.77
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is the way I would run my company
Review: This should be the first book you read when you get out of college. Much of what Tom Kelley says would probably make your boss turn away, going against many theorems taught in management classes.

But just maybe he is re-defining the perfect environments for the the ideas that change the way we interface.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Waste of time.
Review: Ideo is a fascinating company, and just reading about its adventures and ways is enjoyable. Beyond that, this is a great book to give you some creative nudges. Frankly, I think the title and subtitle oversell it. This isn't really some kind of guide that you can apply and become more creative. Not to say that it's not helpful in that way, but only in the most general sense of the word. Still, it is absolutely worth reading and enjoyable because an inside look at Ideo is not to be missed.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining, Not Very Useful
Review: It must be nice to live in IDEO's world. I can imagine that if I had access to the unlimited time and money that seem to permeate IDEO, the question of "how best to innovate" might be a pressing one.

While I don't discount that IDEO started from scratch and became a powerhouse using the methodologies described in the book, I would assert that their techniques and suggestions are only valuable to design firms, consultants, and high-end designers within very large corporations.

Some of the ideas are neat and can be incorporated into other structures - particularly the advice on brainstorming. But much of the work is simply not feasible for the average project or department manager. I do understand the inefficiencies that come from poorly executed innovation, prototyping, etc., but as far as functional guidelines go, a basic Product Design textbook has more useful and more flexible process descriptions.

Nevertheless, the book is at least entertaining, and is probably another route to making loads of dough for the IDEO guys, which, after all, is what IDEO seems to do best!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good stories but not clear how it can help daily innovation
Review: Dr. Ali Alwattari review - the "Art of Innovation" book describes parts of the human experience of innovation and is appropriately called the "art" of innovation. However, it does not outline how to actually innovate routinely.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome
Review: This book is great for anyone who wants to have the inside scoop on how to create innovative products. IDEO is the premier industrial design house in the country. Their company culture is very interesting and entertaining. Great read! I couldn't put it down.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: For innovating or for recruiting?
Review: The book is an attempt to explain innovation through a highly hyped company. Tom Peters calls IDEO "the only other company I'd ever work for." IDEO is famous for it's innovative work in improving high tech user interface design at companies like Apple and Microsoft. It's on most "Top Places to Work" lists.

So the question begging to be asked are...
Is this book about innovation or recruiting?
And is IDEO really that good?

To answer the first, it seems a little bit of both. Since the book is written by insiders, you'll get what they think the secret to success is. Note - It's not an academic "Here's how innovation works" tome, it's "Here's what we thinks works"

As for IDEO really being that good? The book will convince you that you want to work there. Reality is IDEO has been hit by these troubled times like everyone else. I'd be interested in what The Vault has to say about them now.

Is the book an interesting read on design and innovation? Yes!
Will it make you a great innovator? Probably not. It's interesting, but lacks the key "Gotcha" insights.


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