Sandy Fershee: How design thinking is transforming Ford

Idea Development

Sandy Fershee shares how her background in anthropology influences her work at Ford. She emphasizes the importance of understanding people and developing insights through observation, which she applies to design and innovation. This approach helps her team generate and refine ideas effectively.

Understanding people, bringing those observational skill sets to the table, developing deep understanding, developing insights and have that inform the work was incredibly powerful.

--- Sandy Fershee

Sandy also discusses the challenges of transitioning ideas from creative exploration to commercialization, highlighting the need for rigorous iteration and collaboration with cross-functional teams 1.

   

Testing & Evaluation

Testing and evaluating ideas at Ford involves a blend of physical and digital prototyping. Sandy Fershee describes how her team uses various materials to create low to medium fidelity prototypes, simulating future products 2. This process helps them identify potential issues and refine designs before full-scale production.

We use futuring scenarios to test our thinking, and then there's a lot of rigor to get to what are the best ideas for the future.

--- Sandy Fershee

Futuring scenarios play a crucial role in this process, allowing the team to anticipate and adapt to future trends and challenges 3.

   

Realizing Impact

Bringing ideas to market at Ford requires close collaboration with the business side to ensure alignment with strategic goals. Sandy Fershee explains that this involves making tough decisions about which ideas to pursue and iterating on them until they are viable for release 1.

It's bringing it all together. And that's the exciting challenge of working at a huge enterprise.

--- Sandy Fershee

Additionally, Ford's investment in other companies, like Rivian, provides further inspiration and opportunities for innovation, demonstrating a commitment to exploring diverse avenues for future growth 4.