Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

by Tony Fadell

But the longer I made things—at General Magic, at Philips, at Apple—the more I realized that many things don’t need to be made. After the iPod a lot of people started pitching me their devices. People would say, “Tony’s the hardware guy—he’ll love your idea.” And the first thing I did when someone proudly handed me their beautifully polished prototype was put it aside. “How can you solve your problem without this?” They would be astonished. How could the “hardware guy” not want to check out my cool gadget? People often get excited about making something with atoms—they dig into the design, interface, colors, materials, textures—and instantly become blind to simpler, easier solutions. But making anything with atoms is incredibly difficult—it’s not an app that you can copy and update with a click. The only time hardware is worth the headache of manufacturing and packaging and shipping is if it’s critically necessary and transformative. If hardware doesn’t absolutely need to exist to enable the overall experience, then it should not exist. Of course, sometimes you do need hardware—it can’t be avoided. But when that happens, I still tell people to put it away. I say, “Don’t tell me what’s so special about this object. Tell me what’s different about the customer journey.”