The Team Speed Design Contest
I don’t know if they still do this, but Microsoft used to hold an annual Design Day. The design community at Microsoft would come together for a day of talks, panels, food and fun.
The highlight, for me, was the Team Speed Design contest. Four teams of four designers each competed to show off their design skills. The teams came from different product groups around the company. It was held in an auditorium with a stage and some whiteboards. One by one each team would come in, receive the design problem, and be given 20 minutes to create and present a solution. The other teams were kept away from the auditorium so they wouldn’t see or hear anything until it was their turn. Each contestant wore a microphone and the entire process was carried out in front of a live audience.
After each performance a panel of judges gave critique on the design. Scores were awarded based on things like process, simplicity, and aesthetics. Finally, the winning team was announced.
This is an intense, challenging competition. Imagine compressing a design project into an utterly, ridiculous time frame and then being asked to allow a 100 people to watch and listen while you work. It was good fun, but there was a bit of team and personal pride involved. Teams would practice multiple times before the event. The teams came to win.
My favorite design problem was the parallel parking problem. Each team was asked to design a new system that would help drivers parallel park their cars. One team had three members who didn’t own cars. The hysterical moment was when the only team member who did have a car, pantomimed step by step for the others what its like to parallel park a car. As the “car” backed up, with her hands on the “wheel”, she slowly stepped backwards looking over her shoulder all the while talking the others through what she was doing. It was a “had-to-be-there” moment, but it was pure comic gold.
This week I’ve been taking in all the news on the self-parking Lexus. It has two parking modes: the “provide help for you” mode and the “do it for you” mode. I wish I could go back in time and compare the designs from that speed design contest to the shipping Lexus design. I wonder how close the Microsoft designers got with 20 minutes of work.