Creativity, Technology, Design, and You What’s “Teams” Got To Do With It? Prof. David Owens Owen Grad School of Management

Today’s Three Claims 1. Good designs are not creative 2. Good design teams don’t know what they are doing 3. Good designs can’t be managed

First a Poll… How many of you are creative?

About Me… BS Electrical Engineering PE EE (Professional Engineer) SFO Airport: Power Systems Design MS Product Design (ME / Art) IDEO Product Development Inc. Product Design (Apple, HP, Steelcase, Coleman, Wine-in-a-Box, etc.) PhD Management Science and Eng. Management & New Product Development Vanderbilt & LEGO Systems (SeriousPlay.com)

Some good designs…

Why Do “Good” Ideas Fail? Because the designers have failed to recognize the constraints of … habits, perceptions, routines, social structures, knowledge bases, behaviors, minds, or ways of life…

The Big Secret… Design is not “Creative”! The most successful designers are not “out of the box” thinkers The are “inside the box” constraint- meeters!

Inside the box Innovation.. Individual Organizational Societal Technical Economic Constraints

Why Constraints? Constraints are something we can usually agree upon Constraints are something we can usually measure Constraints can be a focus of our innovation efforts Constraints guide the acceptance of our designs

Good Designs are not Creative Good Designers are! They are innovators who identify, articulate, and circumnavigate constraints that stand in the way of a good design solution They are good at the process of seeking constraints, and then being clever, honest, and responsible about meeting or changing them

Creative People may be Characterized by... ???

Creative Personality Indicators 1. Neurotic 2. Extraverted 3. Open to Experience 4. Agreeable 5. Conscientious Others?...

Creativity Research Findings Trait Neuroticism Extraversion Openness to Experience Agreeableness Conscientiousness General cognitive ability Task motivation Domain-relevant skills Use Creative Processes “Creativity” Correlation ~

So What Happens in Teams? TraitCreativity: Neuroticism Extraversion Openness to Experience Agreeableness Conscientiousness General cognitive ability Task motivation Domain-relevant skills Use Creative Processes Indiv ~ Team ~ 0.11 ~ 0.37 ~.52

Good design teams don’t know what they are doing… They know how they are going to do it Their secret is mastery of the process of design

Rational Model of Design Identify the Issue Find the Relevant Expertise in the Cross-Functional Group Give Authority to “The Expert” Voila— Problem Gets Solved Eng Mkt Mfg Srv ID

Technology S-Curves 1 Time Performance 1: Exploration2: Innovation3: Implementation4: Exploitation 2 3 4

A Design Process DIVERGENCE CONVERGENCE PERFORMANCE A Group Process

So What? The group must have different “behaviors” at different times The group must have different goals at different times Groups cannot “jump ahead” in the process How do you know when to switch?

Rational Model of Design Identify the Issue Find the Relevant Expertise in the Group Proffer Authority to Expert Voila— Problem Gets Solved

A more likely scenario: The Negotiation Model Issues Framed Influence Attempted Authority Asserted Problem Assigned Problem Gets Solved!

How do you know when to switch modes? See who’s best situated Allow temporary “loss” of control Keep to the Process Keep to the Schedule And Always Seek Constraints!

Good designs don’t need to be managed… good designers do. Great design teams manage the team and the process and let the design manage itself Without a design process there is no design You can choose to be ignorant of process, but this is to choose to be ignorant of your most powerful tool

Today’s Three Claims 1. Good designs are not creative 2. Good design teams don’t know what they are doing 3. Good designs can’t be managed

MBA - Product Design and Development Class – Spring Semester see details at