- [[references]] - Title: Technology Brokering and Innovation in a Product Development Firm - Meta: - Authored by:: [[Andrew Hargadon]] - Year: [[1997]] - Publication: Administrative Science Quarterly - Zotero link: [Zotero Link](zotero://select/items/1_5K9IE3A9) - URL: [Hargadon & Sutton (1997). Technology Brokering and Innovation in a Product Development Firm. Administrative Science Quarterly](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2393655) - Content - Abstract - We blend network and organizational memory perspec- tives in a model of technology brokering that explains how an organization develops innovative products. The model is grounded in observations, interviews, informal conversations, and archived data gathered during an eth- nography of IDEO,a product design firm. This firm ex- ploits its network position, working for clients in at least 40 industries, to gain knowledge of existing technological solutions in various industries. It acts as a technology broker by introducing these solutions where they are not known and, in the process, creates new products that are original combinations of existing knowledge from dispa- rate industries. Designers exploit their access to a broad range of technological solutions with organizational routines for acquiring and storing this knowledge in the or- ganization's memory and, by making [analogies]([[analogy]] - #lit-context - [[Joel Chan]] - 09:46 | #inspectionalread - key terms - broker - structural hole - organizational memory - i'm interested in - details of how they store stuff - details and examples of analogies - the model (somewhat) - questions/results - how does IDEO and its designers get access to brokerage resources - perspectives - network - organizational memory - actor-network theory - random things that catch my attention - cc obliqueness -  - how might an organizational memory be organized differently to optimize for brokerage, exaptation, and analogy? - interesting: past lit framing here seems to conflate organizational memory with routinization (like... fixation?) -  (p. 732) - i'm struck by how visually impoverished this paper is! aching for some figures of the network, screenshots/pictures of the workspaces, the cabinets, the crash carts.. so many wonderfully rich artifacts to learn from! - snippets - #analyticalread - my questions - implications for the [[THE - interaction-oriented theory of creative inspiration from examples]] - methods notes - method: ~2-year [[mEthnography]] - sources (table 2) - overall -   (pp. 726-727) - details -    (pp. 720-722) - details of timing and intensity: phase 1: intense ~6-8 hrs/week, may 1994 to 1995; phase 2: weekly visits, until feb 1996; phase 3: monthly visits, until december 1996 -  (p. 719) - field site: Palo Alto office of IDEO, focusing on mostly the mechanical engineering team of designers (+ their managers and support staff) -  (p. 718) - analysis: weick theory building and [[@glaserDiscoveryGroundedTheory2010]] -  (p. 725) - results notes - [[EVD - a substantial number of IDEO-designed products incorporated technological solutions from other industries - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] - [[EVD - IDEO intentionally curated a diverse portfolio of products and staff with an eye to constructing a base of analogies to apply to new designs - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] -  (p. 741) - IDEO methodology handbook encourages designers to expand their portfolio and network -  (p. 730) - this can happen through exposure in various forms, experience on projects, and exploratino of industry consultants and suppliers - consultants -  (p. 733) - studying an industry through catalogs, stores, show and tell etc. -  (p. 734) -  (p. 735) - btw, this is cc [[CLM - examples can improve creative outcomes by enabling more robust (re)modeling of the problem space]] - e.g., similar to [[EVD - professional designers curated examples to understand trends and design approaches to inform .... simple direct transfer of solution approaches - @sharminUnderstandingKnowledgeManagement2009b]] - hiring criteria focused on diversified experience as well as outside interests (e.g., building model airplanes) that would expand IDEO's base of knowledge -  (p. 730-731) -  (p. 743) - [[EVD - IDEO intentionally cultivated social norms of help-seeking and help-giving across disciplinar...uch as peer reputation for performance evaluations - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] - called an "attitude of wisdom" -  - [[EVD - Technical design knowledge at IDEO that was used for analogical inspiration resided in a mix ...intained through routines of access in design work - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] - [[EVD - Intentional organizational routines, both formal and informal, such as brainstorming and regu...val and circulation of technical knowledge at IDEO - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] -  (p. 740) ###### Discourse Context - **Informs::** [[QUE - Under what conditions do diverse initial examples lead to better final design solutions]] - **Informs::** [[QUE - How might domain distance modulate the effects of analogies on creative output]] - **Informs::** [[QUE - What are the most efficient routes to useful cross-boundary knowledge]] - **SourceFor::** [[EVD - a substantial number of IDEO-designed products incorporated technological solutions from other industries - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] - **SourceFor::** [[EVD - Intentional organizational routines, both formal and informal, such as brainstorming and regu...val and circulation of technical knowledge at IDEO - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] - **SourceFor::** [[EVD - Technical design knowledge at IDEO that was used for analogical inspiration resided in a mix ...intained through routines of access in design work - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] - **SourceFor::** [[EVD - IDEO intentionally cultivated social norms of help-seeking and help-giving across disciplinar...uch as peer reputation for performance evaluations - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]] - **SourceFor::** [[EVD - IDEO intentionally curated a diverse portfolio of products and staff with an eye to constructing a base of analogies to apply to new designs - @hargadonTechnologyBrokeringInnovation1997]]