It has six offices in the US, as well as others in London, Munich, Tokyo and an affiliate office in Tel Aviv. Most of its offshoot offices occur when someone wants to move back home, says Mr Burns. Mr Burns is from Edinburgh. The second key to its grown-up management is that IDEO is based on projects. In keeping with its unwillingness to embrace growth for its own sake, IDEO has split its London creative staff into four teams though this is for administrative ease rather than a hard and fast grouping.
Project teams change from project to project.
The unspoken understanding is that brilliant, problem-solving design makes money for the company and its clients. What we do is evolving. The star designer does not breeze in and out while a tribe of assistants labours over the latest creation. Most design companies are based on a single individual and fail when the individual moves on. Other studios are based on confrontation.