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I think this personification of companies as people is misleading. Whose "focus?" Do you mean you think that the same people within Apple are working on both h

I think this personification of companies as people is misleading. Whose "focus?" Do you mean you think that the same people within Apple are working on both hardware and software, and are focusing more on hardware? Or that you think many people who write software have been re-educated, re-assigned, and are now working on hardware? I assume that the size of Apple's teams working on iPhone are limited by more than resources, and the recruitment pools are totally separate, so it's not like they're spending too much on hardware engineers and can't afford enough software engineers, right? I just don't really know how you can conceive of such a massive company as having an obviously zero-sum "focus" like a person has.

brians 9y ago
Quality comes from feedback control systems. Quality of design comes from management oversight and correction. Fan-in is a concern. Orphaned teams become a concern at a tenth Apple’s scale. Informal networks and approval based on trust of people rather than examination of product is a concern. Executive attention is expensive.
- codeisawesome 9y ago
  Wow, I can apply every one of those to situations I’ve been in. What is fan-in?
  - brians 9y ago
    How many direct supervisory relationships does each manager have? How bushy is the supervision tree?
  - ggghvggtff 9y ago
    A fancy word he made up to justify his position and pay? The post reeks of management-speak. It’s Michael Lopp without the cool/Jerkcity factor.
Spooky23 9y ago
The hardware engineering is much more deliberate and well planned/orchestrated than the software. IMO it’s less “focus” and more having to rely on third party manufacturers who will push back due to liability. iOS 11 is a beta quality product. One org that I’m familiar with has a 5x increase in help desk calls and replacements, mostly around the voice phone components failing.
- jsz0 9y ago
  Most iOS updates are smooth and trouble free. Still the far best mobile platform in terms of actually receiving software updates and new features. In the case of iOS 11 I would guess all the software changes required for the iPhone X has caused a temporary a dip in quality. I don't think it's representative of the quality of iOS updates overall. Things could be a little bit rocky going forward though as Apple will continue support pre-iPhone X era hardware for the next 3-5 years. I believe this is the first time they've had to support two distinctively different flavors of iOS UI in this way at least since the iOS6->7 days.
  - Spooky23 9y ago
    I agree — I’m not in the “Apple software is going to hell camp” But the fact is, you can ship glitchy software and fix it later, so they do. Hardware is much more expensive to do that with, so they don’t.
cortesoft 9y ago
A company absolutely has a zero-sum 'focus' just like a person. You dismiss the idea that resources are the limiting factor, but that is absolutely what the limiting factor is. You really think that with unlimited money they couldn't have better software? They could, but they don't because it does not have enough of a return on investment. They 'focus' their resources on areas that will return them profit.
- aeontech 9y ago
  You're casually insulting everyone who is working hard on the software. Consider that the team sizes are surprisingly small. Consider that throwing more people at a project does not scale, and famously just slows things down after a certain, fairly small threshold. Consider that software is still really really freaking hard to do. Unlimited money does not solve all problems, contrary to what you may think. You can't easily buy your way out of technical debt, time limits, or legacy architectural decisions. Ascribing the bugs to malice or carelessness rather than the fact that this shit is difficult is very unkind. Source: know many people who have spent last few months feverishly working nights and weekends.
  - michaelmrose 9y ago
    I think we can have an honest conversation even if it hurts peoples feelings.
    - aeontech 9y ago
      My feelings are fine, but thanks anyway :)
    - gabrielcsapo 9y ago
      I think it would be easier to have a conversation that cares about human emotions and get results, than to insult others and lose perspective of those involved. The recent flak over Node COC is a extremely good example about how "having an honest conversation even if it hurts people," is extremely destructive. [1] [1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/24/nodejs_forks_ayo_code_of_conduct/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/24/nodejs_forks_ayo_co...

brians 9y ago

Quality comes from feedback control systems. Quality of design comes from management oversight and correction. Fan-in is a concern. Orphaned teams become a concern at a tenth Apple’s scale. Informal networks and approval based on trust of people rather than examination of product is a concern. Executive attention is expensive.

codeisawesome 9y ago
Wow, I can apply every one of those to situations I’ve been in. What is fan-in?
- brians 9y ago
  How many direct supervisory relationships does each manager have? How bushy is the supervision tree?
- ggghvggtff 9y ago
  A fancy word he made up to justify his position and pay? The post reeks of management-speak. It’s Michael Lopp without the cool/Jerkcity factor.

Spooky23 9y ago

The hardware engineering is much more deliberate and well planned/orchestrated than the software. IMO it’s less “focus” and more having to rely on third party manufacturers who will push back due to liability. iOS 11 is a beta quality product. One org that I’m familiar with has a 5x increase in help desk calls and replacements, mostly around the voice phone components failing.

jsz0 9y ago
Most iOS updates are smooth and trouble free. Still the far best mobile platform in terms of actually receiving software updates and new features. In the case of iOS 11 I would guess all the software changes required for the iPhone X has caused a temporary a dip in quality. I don't think it's representative of the quality of iOS updates overall. Things could be a little bit rocky going forward though as Apple will continue support pre-iPhone X era hardware for the next 3-5 years. I believe this is the first time they've had to support two distinctively different flavors of iOS UI in this way at least since the iOS6->7 days.
- Spooky23 9y ago
  I agree — I’m not in the “Apple software is going to hell camp” But the fact is, you can ship glitchy software and fix it later, so they do. Hardware is much more expensive to do that with, so they don’t.

cortesoft 9y ago

A company absolutely has a zero-sum 'focus' just like a person. You dismiss the idea that resources are the limiting factor, but that is absolutely what the limiting factor is. You really think that with unlimited money they couldn't have better software? They could, but they don't because it does not have enough of a return on investment. They 'focus' their resources on areas that will return them profit.

aeontech 9y ago
You're casually insulting everyone who is working hard on the software. Consider that the team sizes are surprisingly small. Consider that throwing more people at a project does not scale, and famously just slows things down after a certain, fairly small threshold. Consider that software is still really really freaking hard to do. Unlimited money does not solve all problems, contrary to what you may think. You can't easily buy your way out of technical debt, time limits, or legacy architectural decisions. Ascribing the bugs to malice or carelessness rather than the fact that this shit is difficult is very unkind. Source: know many people who have spent last few months feverishly working nights and weekends.
- michaelmrose 9y ago
  I think we can have an honest conversation even if it hurts peoples feelings.
  - aeontech 9y ago
    My feelings are fine, but thanks anyway :)
  - gabrielcsapo 9y ago
    I think it would be easier to have a conversation that cares about human emotions and get results, than to insult others and lose perspective of those involved. The recent flak over Node COC is a extremely good example about how "having an honest conversation even if it hurts people," is extremely destructive. [1] [1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/24/nodejs_forks_ayo_code_of_conduct/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/24/nodejs_forks_ayo_co...