Remington

It was a lot of fun. We had the right resources and the scope was a little bit exhausting for me because I was sort of a surrogate leader, project leader, because the project leader hadn't really led a project before, and was new out of the gate. So I was kind of leading from behind, which was alright. I was happy to do that, but I also was leading all the research, so it was kind of exhausting for me to build credibility with the client, do all the international research, and bolster the project leader. So I got kind of tired, but it was a lot of fun. We did a lot of good work, so that was really powerful. [2816]
They were also undergoing a lot of internal head-rolling. There were lots of people leaving, so that was a distraction, which is where we decided we weren't going to invest in a longer term relationship just because stakeholder management was going to be a challenge. So that was fine. [2817]
It was a classic IDEO project. It was three of us: me, Ken, and a guy named Quinn, who's left. And then it was Steve, who's now hired, but he was an intern from Notre Dame at the time. [2818]
Yeah, it was fine. I mean, it wasn't a really complex project. It was about the psychology and the physiology of adolescent males, so it was quite fun. I spent a lot of time in bathtubs videotaping these boys shaving, and that was hilarious because they didn't know what they were doing, and they don't really need to shave physically, but they need to shave emotionally. That's part of their identity. So that was fun to get into that. [2819],[2837],[2836],[2835]
No, I think, you know, we scoped it tightly like we usually do, and we were, it was fine. I mean, it was tiring, but it was fine. [2820]
And my background's in Design Research and I don't have a Ph.D. in Psychology, so I had to really prove to them that I didn't need to have a Ph.D. in Psychology. So what I did was I did the research and then I brought in a child psychologist. So in that sense we did validate our premise, which was around the state, the psychological need states, for this age group of males. And he was like, "Yeah, you're absolutely right on." [2821]
So what I did was I did the research and then I brought in a child psychologist. So in that sense we did validate our premise, which was around the state, the psychological need states, for this age group of males. And he was like, "Yeah, you're absolutely right on." And what was the inspiration? It was around: Where are they standing psychologically with their identity and what are their needs? And what they are exactly I can't quite recall. I mean, this was two years ago, but ... PROJECT ID [2838]
Strained. [2822]
They went a little bit native with us, as it were. The manager was just a very negative force. She was preventing the other two from doing what they knew wa [2839]
They went a little bit native with us, as it were. The manager was just a very negative force. She was preventing the other two from doing what they knew was- [2823],[2824]
Oh, they were good. Ken and I were, he was the Project Leader and I was really supporting him. It wasn't a formal, it was an informal role for me. We became friends through that too. And I got to know Quinn and was very supportive of hiring Steve as a result of that project. So they were all very positive. [2825]
I had a great relationship with my direct peers on the mirror side of the client. On the client side. Their boss was kind of an obstructive person. [2826]
I had a great relationship with my direct peers on the mirror side of the client. On the client side. Their boss was kind of an obstructive person. She was just clearly trying to build her own power, and that was a destructive force for the whole team. [2828]
No, it was their boss. I had a great relationship with my direct peers on the mirror side of the client. On the client side. Their boss was kind of an obstructive person. She was just clearly trying to build her own power, and that was a destructive force for the whole team. And you- [2827]
She was just clearly trying to build her own power, and that was a destructive force for the whole team. And you- [2840],[2841]
No, she just was ... She wasn't very ... She couldn't communicate very clearly and she was kind of talking out of both sides of her mouth and everybody could tell. It was very obvious. So that made it difficult to take direction from her, and she was in that position, so that was hard. We got to the point where we were sitting on the other side of the table from our client but winking at each other because their boss was making a fool of herself. So that was too bad. [2842],[2844],[2830],[2843],[2829]
And we made gestures to try and bring her in and inform her. We weren't working against her, but she just, she had another agenda that was never very clear to anybody, actually. [2845],[2846],[2832],[2831]
Not the quality, but I think it probably compromised the follow-through because I don't know if she was going to be championing it or making it actually happen. [2834],[2833]
Reference Tags
[2816] Balance of challenging work,[2817] Internal changes/challenges,[2818] Great example - IDEO's Methods,[2819] Balance of challenging work,[2837] Empathetic disposition,[2836] Law of the instrument,[2835] Listening disposition,[2820] Unbalanced workload pressure,[2821] Effort justification,[2838] Empathetic disposition,[2822] Internal changes/challenges,[2839] Internal changes/challenges,[2823] Internal changes/challenges,[2824] Micromanaging,[2825] Organizational encouragement,[2826] Communication issues,[2828] Selfish motivation for the project,[2827] Micromanaging,[2840] Internal changes/challenges,[2841] Woman blaming woman,[2842] Alignment,[2844] Communication issues,[2830] Communication issues,[2843] Internal changes/challenges,[2829] Trust,[2845] Alignment,[2846] Internal changes/challenges,[2832] Selfish motivation for the project,[2831] Vague goals,[2834] Selfish motivation for the project,[2833] Vague goals