Deep Dive Design

Filed in archive Application Development on February 9, 2006

I just had an interesting two days spent trying to design a new IT system. What the system is and what it is suppose to do is not the point of this post. The process that was involved in trying to design the new system is the point.

The process was covered quite well in a story covered a number of years ago by ABC news. The company that came up with the methodology is called Ideo and based on the experience I've had for the past two days I think it is a pretty cool way to try and solve complex problems.

First, we started with small groups of smart and experienced people with varied backgrounds. Each person was given strict instructions to be open-minded and to leave preconceived notions and religious affiliations (so to speak) at the door. We did our best in this regard and constantly had to remind each other what our ultimate goal was and to not take things personally. We were then presented with a well-defined problem that we needed to fine a solution for within a very strict timeline. Below is an outline of the process we followed:

• Each person presented ideas that we captured no matter how strange they might have been


• We voted on the ideas we liked best as individuals


• The ideas that survived were categorized


• A prototype of a solution on the problem was created based on the ideas we came up with in step #2


• We then left our prototype behind to be evaluated in a "Science Fair project" type setting by other groups


• Someone Captured feedback given by those reviewing our prototype

Based on the feedback we got on our prototype we started the process again and refined our prototype. We did three cycles of this throughout the day. At the end of the day we presented our prototype to everyone and outlined next steps to make our prototype a reality.

I did this over two days and met some really nice people along the way. I'm not sure where those prototypes that we came up with will go after this but I feel good about them. It was a very interesting time whatever happens.