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

by Ken Kocienda

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. Like the movie, demos should be specifically choreographed, so it’s clear what must be included and what can be left out. Those things that aren’t the main focus of a demo, but are required to create the proper setting, must be realized at the correct level of detail so they contribute to the whole rather than detract from the vision.

In any complex effort, communicating a well-articulated vision for what you’re trying to do is the starting point for figuring out how to do it.

for a demo to be useful to us, it had to be concrete and specific.

Design is how it works.

the Seagull Manager. It describes a top executive who is rarely around but flies in occasionally and unexpectedly from who knows where, lands on your beach, squawks noisily, flaps its wings all over the place, launches itself back into the air, circles overhead, drops a big poop on everyone, and then flies away, leaving the rest of the team to clean up the mess, figure out what it all meant, and wonder what to do about the inevitable follow-up visit.

Why do some products, like the iPhone, turn out as well as they do? I’m

The first part is the demo-making creative selection process.

The second part of my answer goes back to the introduction, where I first mentioned the seven essential elements of the Apple development approach.

Inspiration,

Collaboration,

Craft,

Diligence,

Decisiveness,

Taste,

Empathy,

combination of people and commitment.

A small group of people built a work culture based on applying the seven essential elements through an ongoing process of creative selection.