below are some notes i took from the 1995 ‘lost’ steve jobs interview. they are applicable to design, business, and tech in general. a very telling interviewing that reveals much about Steve’s thoughts behind his success.
-
#1 point: great design comes down to taste. exposing yourself to the best things humans have done and bringing that into your work
humans are tool builders. the computer is at the top of course. this is what motivated jobs. the story of humanity. computers should be bicycles for the mind. tools that dramatically amplify human abilities
don’t be shameful to ‘steal’ ideas as long as you bring your own vision and taste to it
a common recurring theme is that jobs is driven by the way we interact with computers ie nice design, user interface, mouse design, all these things are innovate because of the way we interact
people that come from companies that focus on marketing and sales, etc that do not know how to make a great product with connection to the customer can be dangerous
sales and marketing people end up running companies when there’s no competition pressure
money for visionaries is simply a tool for self expression
focus on the essential rather than adding features for their own sake
when companies get bigger, they want to replicate their initial success
control the entire user experience rather than just making components. the product includes everything the customer touches, not just the core technology. the design of casing, packaging, everything is the experience.
downfall of IBM = mistaking process for content the best people understand the content the best
monopolies in technology get complacent and lose their product sense
apple drifted too far away from its root content, thus failed
the disease: that a great idea is 90% of the work. stop telling, start doing
great ideas are only 10% of the work. execution and iteration are everything
designing a product means keeping 5,000 concepts in your brain and fitting them together in new ways how to better organize these concepts and plan them out?
the great idea never comes out like the idea started becuase to is in a constant state of iteration and craftmanship the process is the magic
institutionalizing process often kills the original creative spirit. it’s an ever-growing meta-process that should be accounted for.
jobs tells the metaphor story of how a team rubs and bumps into each others to smooth each other out like the rocks. working together you polish each other and the outcome is smooth work.
in software and hardware, you get very high returns on the best players, not settling for middle players the best players like working together, not with other C tier players
“The thing that stands out to me in this interview is that Steve focused on getting the best possible people, and focusing them on a do-or-die task” - youtube comment
a hard thing to do - criticize the A player’s work in a way that does not signal a loss in confidence in them, but simply saying their work here is not good enough to support the system. must be clear in explanation without coddling while being open to counter-points
steve leaving apple in 1985 becuase he hired the wrong guy
john sculley had no true vision for apple
microsoft has no taste. they don’t think of original ideas or bring much culture to their product. no spirit. their customers didn’t have this spirit either.
he knew he could not manage the $2b company at age 30. he knew his limits which helped in the long term. stay humble
question everything that’s “just the way it’s done.” most business practices are folklore without good reasons how to do as an employee with low leverage?