In his book Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs, Kocienda reflects on the company culture, which was based on collaboration and enthusiasm for employees and users.
The recipe for success? No politics, no bureaucracies. Put together small teams. Empower them and support them in such a way that they are able to make a difference.
The website of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania recently published an interview with the author.
Focus on users
Apple is constantly looking at new hardware to see where technology is going. But technology by itself is not enough for Apple. The primary concern of the company's designers is to make products that are useful and meaningful in people's lives. They don’t want to force users into having to think hard just to figure out how a device works.
The author recalls the development of autocorrect software. There was no keyboard as a piece of hardware, only taps on the screen. It was about matching the patterns of taps of a user to how ideal patterns of words from a dictionary look. However, the old QWERTY keyboard remained unchanged because that was what people expected.
What will be the next disruption for smartphone and wearables?
Nowadays especially health items are gradually appearing online – for example, devices that can detect irregularities in heart rate and thus possibly save lives. Software was always the bridge between technology and meaningful or pleasant experiences for users. Trying to imagine the user experience still remains crucial. Even today, empathy is tethered to technology and software development. Thus empathy is one of the key ingredients that has enabled Apple’s software to succeed.
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Book: Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs (St. Martin's Press, 2018, 304 pages)