“Inside Apple” Reveals Steve Jobs Anecdotes, Apple’s Little Known Facts

http://www.macstories.net/news/inside-apple-reveals-steve-jobs-anecdotes-apples-little-known-facts/

by stevenj • 15 years ago

172 43 15 years ago

Just by looking at this organisational chart, you can see why Apple's industrial design is so amazingly great and consistent: http://www.macstories.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Photo-0....

Notice how Jonathan Ive does not delegate any work to any Vice Presidents. Compare this to other corporations and you'll see why this works so well (no giant chain of command where every member of staff is trying to put their stamp on things).

tallanvor• 15 years ago

The org chart only shows the first 2-4 levels. It doesn't give us any insight as to just how many levels there are below each VP.

andos4• 15 years ago

The noteworthy stuff is that Jonathan Ive reports directly to Steve Jobs, while Bob Mansfield, SVP of Hardware¹, reports to Tim Cook. That shows what Apple is all about.

¹. The chart says "SVP of Mac Hardware", but on the iPad 2 video he's presented as "SVP of Hardware".

bstx• 15 years ago

> That shows what Apple is all about.

Or the org chart is wrong.

> The chart says "SVP of Mac Hardware", but on the iPad 2 video he's presented as "SVP of Hardware".

He replaced Mark Papermaster as SVP of Devices Hardware.

JacobAldridge• 15 years ago

"At Apple there’s never confusion 'as to who is responsible for what'."

This is a project I run with almost all of my clients - shifting an organic, but dysfunctional, business arrangement into one where everyone knows their responsibility, and the right person does the right jobs at the right time (and for the right cost point).

This is achieved by shifting focus. Most businesses evolve from the top down: when the business owner/s or managers get too busy, they hire somebody new and hand down some of their tasks (usually those that they don't like). We work with the business to break down everything they do (from setting a vision to cleaning the sink - easier to do than it sounds), and then coach them to assign responsibility based on who is the best person for each task, rather than who was hired first.

I find it fun - although anything that involves defining and changing responsibilities is fraught with danger in a business. People who have been 'hiding' behind vague (or non-existent) job descriptions are suddenly found out. I tell clients to expect up to 10% resignations, but most or all of those who leave will have been holding the business back. It takes strong leadership to hold the business's nerve during that period.

I guess my point is: this element of Apple's success is possible for any business. It's rewarding, but requires good leadership.

aik2• 15 years ago

That's basically how the small startup I'm working with works. We're a total of 4 people, and at this size, and although we have a founder (or founder and a half), we all basically do what's necessary and everything we can.

The founder is very much against defining roles and job descriptions, despite us sometimes being tempted to go down that road. In the end it makes everything so much more pleasant.

rmason2• 15 years ago

Steve Wozniak was the commencement speaker yesterday at Michigan State. I had the pleasure of attending a meeting he held with engineering students after the commencement.

The biggest surprise I had was that the Woz was on the Macintosh team before Jobs was involved. He said that he, Jef Raskin and a few other engineers wanted to create a low cost version of the Lisa.

It was only after Jobs was banished from the Lisa team/building that he took over the Macintosh team. Also interestingly even though he was a co-founder Woz left the impression that the team leader was initially Raskin. I thought Jobs had founded the Macintosh team.

danilocampos2• 15 years ago

The Macintosh was a very different computer before Jobs got in there and took the reins. If you can spare six hours, folklore.org has an incredible collection of stories detailing early Apple. You won't be able to stop reading.

rmason2• 15 years ago

Yes from what I've read it was initially closer to what later became the Newton.

Here's a link to the commencement address (13 minutes) if anyone wants to give a listen http://ht.ly/4P7M1

dhbanes• 15 years ago

Thanks for this! Fell asleep reading this last night and can't put it down this morning. This could be bad as I just tore down my engine last night and kinda need to put it back together today. Oh well.

thought_alarm• 15 years ago

What's interesting to me is just how early Jobs was booted off the Lisa project, way back in 1980 before Apple's IPO. That's what led to Steve's involvement in Raskin's Macintosh project, and what allowed it to move beyond the stage of research project.

It's been suggested that the Macintosh project was allowed to continue at Apple because it kept Steve Jobs out of everyone's hair.

Fast forward four years to 1984, the Lisa appears to be a failure and the newly-released Mac appears to be a big success (at least initially). The Lisa and Mac teams are reorganized into a single group called "Apple 32", with Steve Jobs at the helm of this new group. During the initial meeting of the new group, Steve's first words to the Lisa people were "You guys really fucked up."

Even more interesting, the guy who took over the Lisa project from Steve in 1980, John Couch, returned to Apple a few years ago as VP of Education Sales. He appears in the top-left corner of the org chart in the linked article.

andos4• 15 years ago

Maybe you already know this link, but it's worth mentioning anyway:

— www.folklore.org

The whole story of the Macintosh, told by the people who built the Macintosh. A great read.

daimyoyo2• 15 years ago

Will this article be in the magazine? I don't want to have to get the iPad app for one story.

GHFigs• 15 years ago

Yes, it will be. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2011/...

daimyoyo2• 15 years ago

Thank you.

melling• 15 years ago

The app is free. You can download the issues for free if you get the dead-tree edition. Hopefully, we'll get a discounted iPad edition soon.

viraptor2• 15 years ago

> “Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering.”

Anyone cares to explain that one? It left me confused really... The way I read it, he's a visionary and doesn't care how things are achieved as long as business is good. And to be honest that doesn't sound good for me - more like a dictator who will eliminate failing VPs whether the fault is on their side or somewhere else in the organisation.

ajessup• 15 years ago

It means you can't hide behind excuses. If for example theres a problem with a vendor shipping components for a product line you're a VP for, it means you're responsible. It means the only acceptible answer is that you found a new supplier and we got the product out on time. Not 'we're late because our manufacturer couldn't hold up their end of the deal'. It's a great philosophy, to my mind it's what defines a true manager in any org. If only AT&T implemented it too.

viraptor2• 15 years ago

Yeah, I get the idea of more responsibility, but don't really agree with how it was put... There are always things which simply cannot be resolved in a given timeframe and the reasonable decision might be to plan for a delay / propose an alternative plan instead - it looks like the VP gets the blame in that case instead of reconsidering the strategy, since reasons don't exist any more.

More to the point - that sentence paints the world black/white, even though the world never works like that. However, I think it also explains some actions of that company...

spiralganglion• 15 years ago

So which VP got roasted for the white iPhone delay? Mark Papermaster, again?

shazow2• 15 years ago

If the janitor didn't have reasons to hide behind, then he should have taken initiative to get the new keys or pick the lock or break the door or whatever it'll take to achieve his goal.

The notion is that a VP shouldn't have reasons to hide behind. She must achieve her goal using any approach necessary, especially since her process is not spelled out for her like the janitor's is. A VP should take initiative even if it takes hiring a new team, or doing it herself, or changing the product, or getting the necessary partnership or distribution deal--whatever it takes to surpass Steve Jobs's expectations.

Steve Jobs doesn't have expectations for janitors.

leoc2• 15 years ago

Roughly speaking, this is also supposed to be the difference between a professional and an employee, and between an officer and an enlisted man (though a good military will also encourage initiative at all ranks).

rooshdi2• 15 years ago

"Steve Jobs doesn't have expectations for janitors."

That whole ideology is unsettling to me. The way in which janitors are singled out as not having the same level of expectations to accomplish their tasks as a VP or any other position. I was a janitor for my high school, and I can tell you from my experience we busted our tails making sure the floors were swept and mopped and the all garbage was taken out on time every single day. Management had high expectations of us and refused excuses, which I respected them even more for. If you started slacking, you were out the door, period. Janitors are professionals too and I don't think it's professional to exemplify them as having inferior expectations or purpose compared to any other job. It's still a job and somebody has to do it, and do it well.

ikono2• 15 years ago

I don't really think it's about expectations or initiative. It's about accountability. He's simply saying that there are times when the guy on the bottom of the ladder has his hands tied and can say there is nothing he could have done(breaking and entering is not a viable option for a janitor). At some point someone has to take responsibility, Jobs says that starts at the VP level.

I also think people get a little carried away with this due to Jobs' persona. I don't think he means it in a, "you must get X done at all costs". I think he's simply saying, "This is your responsibility. You're accountable. Don't blame someone or something else".

brianpan• 15 years ago

It's about making excuses- if something didn't get done or failed, the reasons why don't matter anymore. Success and failure matter.

I don't think it's about success at any cost. It's about focusing on the right things and taking responsibility.

mehmeta• 15 years ago

Reasons stop mattering proportionally to your power and influence in the organization. From the janitor to the CEO, your ability to change things for the better increases. Therefore if something fails, it's not because you didn't have the authority to make sure it was done right but because you failed to observe and act.

leoc2• 15 years ago

Good stuff, but it seems to be taunting the In Search of Excellence jinx.

arkitaip• 15 years ago

"Steve Jobs hired dean of Yale School of Management Joel Podolny to run the Apple University, an internal group also featuring business professors and Harvard veterans that are writing a series of case studies to prepare employees for the life at Apple after Jobs."

I would seriously pay to read that material.

lautenbach2• 15 years ago

Amen. Could be the greatest case of corporate succession planning there ever was - wonder if it will work...

lancewiggs• 15 years ago

Podolny was a star at Yale - presiding over a massive change in the MBA curriculum that made it a a lot more useful than the traditional subject by subject based approach.

aik2• 15 years ago

Interesting. Do you know when that MBA curriculum change happened? Have details on how it is structured now? Have any studies been done on the effectiveness of the program post-restructuring?

blinkingled• 15 years ago

    "Mossberg, our friend, is no longer writing good things about us."

Haha - Wonder what the consequences for Mossberg are here - of being called a friend by Jobs!

lautenbach2• 15 years ago

Is this amount of an article being reproduced/summarized really within the bounds of fair use? I'm not complaining, but I felt no need to pay to read the actual article after reading this summary, and I can't imagine Fortune would be happy about that.

“Inside Apple” Reveals Steve Jobs Anecdotes, Apple’s Little Known Facts

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