lanehalley

In honor of Apple’s launch of the 3G iPhone last month, I’m posting a few words about Leander Kahney’s new book “Inside Steve’s Brain.” In this video Kahney talks about the three things he feels Apple does well: software design, industrial design and marketing. Farhad Manjoo’s provides some additional details in his interview with Kahney, posted on Machinist.com.

Kahney's observations inspired me to jot down the following thoughts:

Good people do good work - When Steve re- joined Apple in 1997, he stopped development on the Newton, but kept the team, who later went on to deliver the iBook. Steve forms long-term creative partnerships that can span years. No matter how good your process is, the secret ingredient is smart people with good ideas.

Use the power of prototypes - “Steve Jobs doesn't wake up one morning and there's a vision of an iPhone floating in front of his face. He and his team discovered it through this exhaustive process of building prototype after prototype.” Apple made more than one hundred prototypes of the MacBook Air before they were satisfied. A good integration of industrial design and interaction design requires a tight collaboration between these two disciplines. Creating physical artifacts helps the team understand the experience of the device and “fail quickly” when necessary.

Focus on the entire experience - The original Mac mouse was an unfamiliar device for consumers. It was packaged separately so the act of handling it and plugging it in would make it “a little less alien…” The iMac packaging contained an insert “specially designed to double as a prop for the slim instruction manual.” One of my favorite parts of buying an Apple product is the "out of box" experience.

Empower small teams with a shared vision - According to Kahney, Steve believes that small teams are easier to manage. He also feels that “Everyone at Apple has a passion to impact culture and society.” Even within a large enterprise, it's possible to form smaller teams with a mandate for innovation.