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There is something /very interesting/ there. I think organizations work in spite of themselves because people like this are sometimes willing to stand up and

by lsc 16y ago

There is something /very interesting/ there. I think organizations work in spite of themselves because people like this are sometimes willing to stand up and fight to do something good/cool outside of their own self-interest. how do you inspire that? Was it just that apple had a large enough platform that it was worth it to continue developing it for the apple vs. releasing freeware/shareware/open source? was it that apple just hired the right people, people who valued releasing something cool to the world over months of their own time? It's hard for me to understand just 'cause I'm too mercenary. In their case, I'd release the product freeware/open source/something and figure I'd benefit from the reputation boost. it wouldn't occur to me to push it through as a skunkworks project where it was likely I wouldn't get any credit /or/ money.

SkyMarshal 16y ago
From my experience, I think you're right. Corporations move forward b/c of people like that. Everyone else just maintains what the corp has, drives it slightly forward, or drives it backwards. The leaps come from the Nucalc guys. One of the beautiful things about the Silicon Valley startup industry is that they've restructured the way things work so that those people also reap the fruit of their devotion, and continue to drive it in that direction (ref PG's recent essay on the future of VC).
wyuenho 16y ago
"It is a cliche in our business that the first 90 percent of the work is easy, the second 90 percent wears you down, and the last 90 percent - the attention to detail - makes a good product." I've had the good fortune to work for a group of people who are exactly like that. There was an extreme dedication, not because they were forced to, but because they were really addicts in a very real sense. I've personally seen what the last 90 percent could do to a product. It really makes a world of difference. Once you've seen an example, you will immediately adopt the addict mindset and start chasing for that euphoria that comes after you've finally finished the last 90 percent. Once you've done it once, you are likely to do it again, and in the process, lead by example and inspire more addicts.
jonknee 16y ago
> For example, at that time only about two hundred PowerPC chips existed in the world. Most of those at Apple were being used by the hardware design engineers. Only a few dozen coveted PowerPC machines were even available in System Software for people working on the operating system. We had two. Sounds like skunkworks was the only way to go.

by lsc 16y ago

SkyMarshal 16y ago

From my experience, I think you're right. Corporations move forward b/c of people like that. Everyone else just maintains what the corp has, drives it slightly forward, or drives it backwards. The leaps come from the Nucalc guys. One of the beautiful things about the Silicon Valley startup industry is that they've restructured the way things work so that those people also reap the fruit of their devotion, and continue to drive it in that direction (ref PG's recent essay on the future of VC).

wyuenho 16y ago

"It is a cliche in our business that the first 90 percent of the work is easy, the second 90 percent wears you down, and the last 90 percent - the attention to detail - makes a good product." I've had the good fortune to work for a group of people who are exactly like that. There was an extreme dedication, not because they were forced to, but because they were really addicts in a very real sense. I've personally seen what the last 90 percent could do to a product. It really makes a world of difference. Once you've seen an example, you will immediately adopt the addict mindset and start chasing for that euphoria that comes after you've finally finished the last 90 percent. Once you've done it once, you are likely to do it again, and in the process, lead by example and inspire more addicts.

jonknee 16y ago

> For example, at that time only about two hundred PowerPC chips existed in the world. Most of those at Apple were being used by the hardware design engineers. Only a few dozen coveted PowerPC machines were even available in System Software for people working on the operating system. We had two. Sounds like skunkworks was the only way to go.