Why We Play At work
Brendan Boyle and Duane Bray, IDEO
IDEO PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN THINKING
- Role Play – Inspirational Play (Inspiration)
- Encourage Ridiculous – Exploration Play (Ideation)
- Think with your hands – Construction Play (implementation)
ROLE PLAY
Asked the presentation group to get into groups of two and draw a portrait of the other in under 30 seconds.
Noticed that drawing is about judging yourself and worried about the ‘tribe’ judging you rather than having fun – kids draw for fun and are not afraid to fail.
These principles focus on how kids like to play. Kids play is based on a set of rules and agreements, experimentation, imagining scenarios. IDEO looks at the ways they can do this also.
A good example of this is the Shopping Cart – IDEO were filmed for 5 days where they had to come up with a solution to a problem that they didn’t know what it was going to be – they didn’t know it was going to be a shopping cart.
Another example was one of their employees where he had to go into hospital for an operation, and he filmed the entire thing. Found the experience was about everyone talking about you as if you weren’t there, and also lack of clarity from the patient about where they were, where they were going to etc. Helped hospital learn about the ‘empathy experience’. These hospitals tried new solutions through role play as a generative exercise.
Relationship between role play and the moderation of it.
During role play, they have ‘asides’ – so they stop during role play, and ask one of the participants what’s going on in their mind at the moment.
ENCOURAGE RIDICULOUS
Used glasses as example – imagine trying people to get used to glasses, when they were first invented? They must have all felt it looked ridiculous.
The Ebb and Flow of Ideas (Dev Patnaik)
The Klutz Book of Inventions (book)
When the going gets tough, the tough get stupid. It’s ok to put yourself towards stupid ideas.
Used examples of making parking tickets more fun (make it a scratch card) , and umbrellas (a helium umbrella).
The Mash Up
In this presentation they asked the group to get into teams of two, write down 5-10 things you find in your junk draw. Then combine those items to come up with some ideas for new products.
The concept of the underarm roll on deodorant was the inspiration for the first computer mouse.
The average firs grader spends 50% of their time engaged in construction play.
Collaborative process is important to IDEO.
PARTING THOUGHTS
1. The playspace – is it a safe environment to innovate in? IDEO demonstrated a VW van as an example of a use of meeting space that is creative. Cultivated a nice atmosphere.
2. Tried to use space – giving people permission to be creative. IDEO has project rooms so they can build and decorate those project spaces in that environment. Makes the room their own.
3. Devices to spur team members on – for example they had a ‘let’s be reasonable’ matrix to evaluate how reasonable they were or were not! Tools to inspire new forms of interactions.
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