On a brisk October day in Chicago, a few employees from the design firm Ideo left their office and headed to Knife & Tine, a restaurant about four miles away.
The goal, besides lunch, was to complete the journey within 45 minutes, on a budget of just $10 for the whole group, all while carrying bulky shopping bags.
This was not a party game, but the kind of immersive research that defines the work of Ideo, a global design firm whose clients have included Samsung, 3M, Anheuser-Busch and, on this day, Ford.
By getting themselves to lunch without a car, the Ideo designers were hoping to gain firsthand insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the city’s transportation options. Led by Iain Roberts, an Ideo partner who has worked with Ford for a decade, the three Ideo employees left the office at 11:45 a.m. with energetic optimism.
Ideo has worked for Ford since 2005, developing software for its hybrid vehicles and designing the console of the Ford Fusion. Now, anticipating a future when Ford will have to do much more to survive than sell cars, the company asked Ideo to develop products focused on “multimodal transportation” — jargon for everything that isn’t driving, as in buses, subways, bike shares, water taxis, ride hailing apps and walking.
Mr. Roberts, who once designed vacuum cleaners alongside James Dyson, is originally from London but lived in Chicago for 12 years and knows the city well. The weather was pleasant, and Mr. Roberts led the team to a nearby dock for Divvy, the city’s bike sharing program. But Divvy charges first-time users $10 for a day pass — too expensive for the group of three.
Checking Uber, Mr. Roberts reported that the trip would cost about $12 and take about 20 minutes. It was the fastest option, but still over budget. The subway was just $2.25 per person. If all went well, they could get to the restaurant in 44 minutes, on time and under budget.
After a short walk to a nearby subway stop, tickets were procured. After that, nothing went well. They had just missed a train. There were no screens showing when the next train would arrive. At one point, two maintenance workers ominously strolled down the middle of the tracks.
Ten minutes later, a train arrived, hot and rank with body odor. There was no cellphone service underground, meaning Mr. Roberts could neither distract himself by surfing the web, nor notify the friends he was meeting for lunch that he’d probably be late. At one station, the train stalled for five minutes with the doors open. On the platform, a police unit patrolled with a bomb-sniffing German shepherd.
The train began moving again, and after 40 minutes Mr. Roberts and his team emerged from a station less than a mile from Knife & Tine. The journey had frayed nerves, and rather than take the bus or walk to the restaurant, they decided to hop in a cab for a quick five-minute ride. The extra $10 blew the budget, but the team was only 10 minutes late.
Read more of the original article in The New York Times