The firm's twenty-somethings like to play music while they work, which can drive the other designers crazy. There are three such rooms in Palo Alto, and they all have the same main features. One conversation at a time. Project leaders call a brainstorm at the beginning of a new assignment or when they feel stumped. Invitations go out over e-mail and attendance is voluntary, but no one takes brainstorming lightly.
People feel incredible pressure to be part of a brainstormer.
The next time they put out an e-mail, they're going to want the best people to come. These sessions generate a frenzy of activity. The project team selects the most promising ideas and moves quickly to develop them. The key word is quickly. As an idea becomes more robust, it goes to the company's machine shop, where powerful computer-controlled machine tools generate prototypes from plastic or metal within hours of receiving software files from a designer's computer.