IDEO Reviews

Pros

People, Culture, Exposure, Travel Opportunities

Cons

Culture, Uneven Rigor, Unclear Accountabilities, Emergent Business Strategy

Pros

Anyone 50+ years old knows IDEO

Cons

IDEO as a company is currently struggling. The brand has become outdated, and the leadership, which comprises individuals who have been at IDEO for 10-20 years, lacks fresh perspectives on overcoming creative barriers and managing the business. As a result, the company is now compelled to focus on acquiring new clients. Frequent layoffs have become the norm, first in 2020, then at the end of 2022, and most recently in May 2023. Despite claiming to value diversity and inclusion, IDEO falls short in its internal practice. It is common to find all-white teams or teams with only one person of color. IDEO maintains a strict hierarchical structure, which is surprising in this day and age. Only those at the Director level and above have decision-making power. Those below this rank are micromanaged and must seek approval from a Director for every decision. Taking on strategic projects or receiving credit for your ideas is nearly impossible if you are not a Director or above. Lastly, the compensation at IDEO is low, considering the political maneuvering and gamesmanship required to remain with the company.

Pros

IDEO still produces amazing design solutions for clients. Like any design firm it’s struggling with the u certain economy, but has managed to maintain an excellent base of design talent and the new CEO seems highly promising and inspiring.

Cons

This is not where people stay for a salary commensurate with tech firms, though many of our designers get snatched up by the usual suspects in search of bigger pay in the short term. The past few years have been really challenging for IDEO, forcing new conditions on the org that can feel in conflict with employees.

Pros

Innovative and Collaborative Culture: IDEO is known for its human-centered design thinking approach and fostering a highly collaborative work environment. Employees have the opportunity to work with a diverse team of designers, engineers, and strategists, allowing them to learn from each other, share ideas, and develop groundbreaking solutions together.

Cons

Highly Competitive Environment: Due to IDEO's prestigious reputation and the high demand for their design and innovation expertise, the work environment can be quite competitive. Employees may experience pressure to consistently produce exceptional work and constantly prove themselves among their talented peers.

Pros

-Amazing, very knowledgeable, considerate people to work with who are passionate about what they do - Open to new ideas, freedom to experiment, - Growth opportunities with extra effort put into defining a clear path ahead - Focused on DEI, equality and respect in the workspace - great benefits, healthcare and flexible leave policy

Cons

- Salaries could be better - Job functions can change and be undefined sometimes and its up to you to find out

Pros

- You will have the chance to work with top-level talents from various vertical expertise fields. It goes much beyond skillset learning and collision but most of the time, challenge ourself in developing our POV from different angles. sometimes it can go to philosophical level to reflect our life and career perspectives. - Types of work are top level. You will get to interact with C-level leadership from big corporates and get to know their visions and struggles. Believe me, we grow significantly when the quality of the challenge is high. It's about asking the right questions. IDEO spends a lot of time in framing the right challenge by taking into account of the big context, which is rare for a lot of businesses. - It's like a family. Our relationships with each other are authentic. You don't need to pretend to be anyone or please anyone. What I really enjoy was those random moments that I ran into people in the kitchen and all of a sudden, a simple chat might give you multiple inspirations and ideas that you want to act upon right away.

Cons

- Hard work. There is no work-life balance. As a project lead, I needed to think from a big picture (project vision, the approach, how to spend the budge to get the most useful resources, team spirit, etc), all the way to small details like lunch options, team facilitation set-up. You need to be very expressive and smart in acquiring resource support from the studio. These supports don't come to you automatically. - Outputs can be abstract and distant from implementation for clients. I don't think it's the issue of IDEO but instead, a consultant business model challenge. I think IDEO has tried to do a good job of delivering compelling stories and solutions to clients. If you don't s shake the client's mindset, how could you get a ticket to solve their real problem? The challenge is the client usually leaves with a compelling story and go back to their old way of working. the story could never land.

Pros

IDEOers are inspiring! The work is meaningful.

Cons

IDEO is a unique culture.

Pros

Incredible people. Many people were very intelligent.

Cons

A little bit of old guard behavior and disillusionment.

Pros

- Great culture, goofy and fun people - Great way to learn about how design and business could work together

Cons

- Project team is very generous with expenses - Deliverables are light touch on the actual design, and focus just on the storytelling

Pros

Creative environment and interesting projects to be involved in.

Cons

The human-centered culture is more in name than in practice.