Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs

by Ken Kocienda

This was an evolution, an outgrowth of our deliberate attention to the task at hand while keeping our end goal in mind. We never waited around for brilliant flashes of insight that might solve problems in one swoop, and we had few actual Eureka! moments.

I reverted to my natural state as an introvert, and having just received far more than my recommended daily dose of concentrated eye contact, I looked at the floor. The intensity in the room quickly dissipated.

He began by quizzing us on the browser analysis we had done before his arrival, and after hearing it, he quickly discarded our effort with Mozilla as unlikely to bear fruit. By doing so, he demonstrated the self-confidence to skip any ingratiating display of deference to his new manager,

I had no comparable plan, goals, nongoals, tight schedule, or technical shortcuts. More than anything, this difference in thinking led to the difference in our outcomes.

In the same way, software demos need to be convincing enough to explore an idea, to communicate a step toward making a product, even though the demo is not the product itself.

Look for ways to make quick progress. Watch for project stalls that might indicate a lack of potential. Cut corners to skip unnecessary effort. Remove distractions to focus attention where it needs to be. Start approximating your end goal as soon as possible. Maximize the impact of your most difficult effort. Combine inspiration, decisiveness, and craft to make demos.

The Konqueror team had taken the opposite tack. Their code was lean and lithe. They prized brevity. Their software style was the Hemingway to Mozilla’s Faulkner.

a significant part of attaining excellence in any field is closing the gap between the accidental and intentional, to achieve not just a something or even an everything but a specific and well-chosen thing, to take words and turn them into a vision, and then use the vision to spur the actions that create the results.

“heisenbugs.”

When software behavior is mysterious, get more organized.

She always encouraged me to keep an open mind about where I could work, that I was married to her, not to Apple.

I described empathy as trying to see the world from other people’s perspectives and creating work that fits into their lives and adapts to their needs.

Empathy is a crucial part of making great products.

Taste is developing a refined sense of judgment and finding the balance that produces a pleasing and integrated whole.

Get busy. Decide what it means to do great work, and then try to make it happen.