There was a lot riding on the seven-inch pole-dancing doll. Tickle-Me Elmo made for another pressure point.
In fact, with eight worldwide locations, six time zones, and roughly fifty people involved, IDEO’s Global Chain Reaction looked more like a blueprint for possible points of failure than a functioning Rube Goldberg machine designed to run sequentially across three continents.
Even Jon Kaplan, the IDEO veteran behind the effort, had moments of doubt. But more than that, he had moments of disbelief: How could someone actually come up with that!? How could someone actually engineer a pole-dancing doll to spin around in silver garland, knock down a Phillippe Starck juicer, trigger a Gaussian gun, and topple a Tickle-Me Elmo, plastic eyes first, onto a computer mouse that then prints a document in Shanghai? All told, there were about ten other machine-based vignettes that lasted almost 20 minutes and spanned day and night, thanks to the fifteen-hour time difference between offices.
Unlike many Rube Goldberg machines, the goal wasn’t to turn on the lights or pour a glass of milk. Instead, Jon wanted to get people psyched about IDEO’s engineering capabilities and to broadcast the distributed contraption live for all to see. Of course, getting a hot dog in the Chicago office to dial a cell phone in Palo Alto for the sole purpose of pumping helium into a bucket of soap and water for a three-foot cylinder of bubbles did plenty to get people excited. When the Chicago team added flames to the mix, Jon didn’t flinch.
“I sent out rules and people either ignored them or followed them. The sense of humor part was great. Munich emailed early on and said, These rules are there for breaking, right?”
The San Francisco office waits patiently for the New York office to knock on their door
The New York office logs on
Elmo in Palo Alto sends a print to Shanghai
Munich maps out their multi-floor Rube Goldberg
The Boston team gets their machine ready amongst scenes of local history
dan
29/10/2008 at 1:36 pm // PermalinkThis is fantastic. I can only imagine the discussions and experiments going on within and between each group. How much time was allowed for building and preparing each set of contraptions? Also very curious about how detailed the ‘rules’ were. Pretty loose, or did you have to spell some things out, like ‘No flamethrowers please, Mary’s eyebrows still haven’t grown back from last years adventure’..?
rube
29/10/2008 at 10:33 pm // Permalinkthis is fucking awesome, you really outdid yourselves
chris
30/10/2008 at 7:36 am // PermalinkWow!
What a fantastic idea. Congrats on working out so well!
Jon K.
30/10/2008 at 1:48 pm // PermalinkDan – Glad you enjoyed it – it was really fun to do.
I first announced the event to the IDEO community about six weeks in advance and gave everyone two weeks to form their teams and two weeks to agree on the transitions between teams. Some teams started brainstorming their contraptions right away, but, as with many things, most of the details were worked out and building happened during the last week or so.
I was pretty clear with the rules, specifying things like: no live animals, use the items in the kit I provided (red IDEO ball, marbles, glockenspiel, and pinwheel), make noise, no human intervention, nothing dangerous (no explosions, flaming projectiles, falling anvils, etc.). In typical IDEO fashion, teams elected to follow or ignore the rules as they saw fit, which made the whole thing that much more entertaining.
Ryan Moede
31/10/2008 at 6:15 am // PermalinkIncredible!
Marcel
02/11/2008 at 5:43 am // PermalinkWow, this is just great! Congratulations! Marcel
diego soroa
10/11/2008 at 8:08 am // Permalink¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ja ja ja ja ! ! ! !
jarid
14/11/2008 at 12:43 pm // PermalinkTwo guys from Ideo came to Wentworth and talked about the company, any one the works their is fucking lucky
pascal
16/11/2008 at 8:59 pm // PermalinkCool,wow…….
Lori
17/11/2008 at 9:33 am // PermalinkWow I am absolutely speechless. Now that is teamwork at it’s finest.
Dan
17/11/2008 at 4:02 pm // PermalinkTerrific machine, I’ve always loved these things. This took it one step further with the use of faxes, telephones, etc. and really ties in the global aspect of today. Looks like a great place to work!
Nino Harris
22/11/2008 at 3:06 am // PermalinkThat has just made me speechless too. Just wow.
That MUST of been fun to do.
Erik
02/12/2008 at 2:28 pm // PermalinkI don’t get it. Can I say that or are the comments section just for back patting and scratching? I’m mean if Ideo helped some 5th grade students from different parts of the world on a project like this, then it would be one thing but what was the challenge here? Are there people unaware that we’re globally connected or confused whether such a string of tasks could work or was this just a creative exercise in engineering? I thought the latter is what Ideo employees engaged in everyday and that their calling cards were their past projects. It just seems a bit odd and the enthusiasm a bit forced. I know that some will think I’m a curmudgeon but those are my honest comments.
Philipp
03/12/2008 at 5:00 am // PermalinkHi Erik,
or solving exceptional technical problems (this was on top of the current projects for clients – which always have a higher priority). It was all about failure, breaking rules and having fun – and doing something that was not done before. And, believe me, the enthusiasm was not forced at all – in fact we had a great party afterwards…
I’m from the IDEO Munich office and just read your post. I see your point – but please don’t overestimated what this is all about. I’ve been on the call when the idea was first raised in summer by John, I’ve been part of the local brainstormings and planning – and was the cable guy on the Munich part when it actually happened. This project was all about having fun together (with all offices) and just about doing it. It was not about being professional (hey, look at some of the filming – really bad
Best,
/philipp
Lisa
28/01/2009 at 6:25 am // PermalinkI think Philipp is right in response to Erik’s comment. I think it is important for a company to be able to take a time-out and just enjoy themselves, and even better that they got a sense of achievement through it.
I think that IDEO has already been established to be a company with high professionalism and is dedicated to designing solutions to user challenges. And I think this exercise just shows that IDEO can be all of the above and be down to earth people at the same time.
Lisa (btw I’m not an IDEO employee)
Chris
11/02/2009 at 10:08 am // PermalinkOh no! Where has the video gone? I was told it was great and really wanted to see it…
Gentry
11/02/2009 at 10:10 am // Permalinknot to worry – it’s at the top of the page. maybe reload?
Joss Wickson
03/03/2009 at 9:38 am // PermalinkAmazing, I am absolutly speechless. Well done all involved, and what a tremendous team effort!
kim
05/03/2009 at 9:56 am // Permalinkawesome!
Sky
07/10/2009 at 6:44 am // PermalinkIngenious!