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Steve Jobs on how to hire, manage, and lead people [video]
- LeeHwang 9y agoI hope Tim Cook watches this, because my respect for apple is tanking.
- drdeadringer 9y agoMay I ask why is your respect for Apple tanking? I'm far from a "fanboy" on Apple; I am curious.
- randomsearch 9y agoSoftware quality is tanking, for one- yesterday the phone crashed during a call. Never happened to me on any phone previously.
- jimnotgym 9y agoSmartphones are just not designed for phoning people anymore. they are designed to make you better consumers. Web browsers, Apple Store, I-Tunes etc. I have a Samsung and it has serious lag around opening up a keypad to dial a number. Seriously? It's like they didn't test 'just making a call' It was much easier to just make calls on a 3310, in fact Siri is not a patch on the 1930's concept of asking a lady at the exchange to patch you through.
- otalp 9y agoThe myth that software was excellent under Jobs is just hat - a myth. I mean, iTunes was commissioned by Jobs, as well as many of early, clunkier iOS versions(no notification centre until much later, no copy/paste in the original iPhone, etc.
- wl 9y agoJobs didn't commission iTunes. He bought it. It used to be known as SoundJam MP.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Walkman 9y agoBecause the quality of their every new product is shit.
- castle-bravo 9y agoAre any of their products even new anymore? It looks like the MacBook Air hasn't changed in four years!
- DRW_ 9y agoIt hasn't - they don't intend to update it either. For now, the newer Macbook and Macbook Pro 13" (without touchbar) are intended to be the 'newer' Macbook Airs. To ask 'are any of their products even new anymore' is a bit odd though.
- srtjstjsj 9y agoIt always was. Beautiful, elegant, shit: http://machmachines.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bomb.jpg http://machmachines.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bomb.jpg
- maroonblazer 9y agoI like his comment at about the 2:06[0] mark where he says "They knew how to manage but they didn't know how to do anything..." However...a dynamic I see happening in my professional world is that the 'how' of doing things is changing so rapidly that managers aren't able to keep up and so might find themselves in a position where when they first started managing they were an expert in their domain but over time the domain has changed so much that their expertise has fallen behind. At that point I think a manager can still have value by performing classically managerial tasks: - setting/reinforcing/communicating the vision (as Jobs notes in the video) - recognizing great work by individuals on the team (both within the team and across the org) - minimizing uncertainty within their span of control/removing 'blockers' - providing autonomy to their staff - facilitating collaboration - striving for fairness and transparency in management decisions [0]https://youtu.be/rQKis2Cfpeo?t=2m6s https://youtu.be/rQKis2Cfpeo?t=2m6s
- Bahamut 9y agoI should note that these are things good leadership does in general, not just management - it also applies to technical leadership as well as management.
- PeachPlum 9y agoSometimes you're leading, sometimes you're managing but you should know which is which. Just like sometimes you're mentoring, coaching or teaching.
- CoolGuySteve 9y agoYa even at Apple during the end of the Jobs era, Bertrand Serlet, the head of software engineering would go through top and find processes that he thought were using too many threads (instead of lib dispatch) or using too much memory. At that stage Snow Leopard was already a year behind schedule for what was meant to be a free maintenance + performance release. So I’d agree that it cuts both ways. A good manager knows to trust his employees.
- 9y ago
- m52go 9y agoOff-topic, but in the video: the signatures of every team member were inscribed inside the casing of each computer? That's mad cool. Had no idea they did that.
- nihonde 9y agoI still have one of those cases. It was my first Mac.
- stmw 9y agoYes, that was also done for the Apple IIgs, I think.
- cromulent 9y agohttps://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Signing_Party.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Signing_Party.tx...
- nicolas314 9y agoThey also had pictures of the team in ROM. You need to activate the debug switch and then jump to the right address. Shown here: https://youtu.be/wiTlRENwbXM https://youtu.be/wiTlRENwbXM
- srtjstjsj 9y agoShortly afterward, Jobs banned the practice of putting programmers' names in the "About" UI of the software, so that all the credit would flow to Apple, the company with his face on it.
- flavio81 9y agoThe young Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded, because of being unbearable to his team, not to mention internally sabotaging the Lisa team (and contribuing to the failure of the Apple III by very stupid frivolous decisions.) See "folklore.org" for first-hand account. The initial success of the Apple computer i'd atttribute more to Wozniak for knowing what the hobby computer should be. The original macintosh wasn't a sales success and sales only took off after Steve was fired and the business strategy was reviewed. The "version 2.0" Steve Jobs that returned to Apple was an improved person, but I simply wouldn't take any advice from the younger SJ.
- rm999 9y agoYeah this was my first thought. This video feels a lot like a lesson on how not to build a great tech team. Apple was a super-hyped company in the 80s with a very successful IPO, so hiring the best wasn't exactly difficult for them. Instead, it feels like they were filtering out people who may have brought diversity of thought and perhaps helped them avoid some of the critical mistakes that led to the failures of V1 of Apple.
- fredgrott 9y agonot to mention not understanding how to price tech products by the Apple Computer TOp staff
- denzil_correa 9y agoCurious - what part of what Steve Jobs says in the interview doesn't make sense to you?
- hateduser2 9y agoTHe premise of this video is that what he says is interesting because its steve jobs whos saying it.. theres that authority built into it. It makes sense to attack his authority as a response to this video, thats not fallacious I don't think. Most of what hes saying isnt backed up by evidence (I mean that hes not citing stats, not that the science falls against him), even if some of it makes sense.
- dpweb 9y agoI feel Jobs is exactly right and facinating how relevant this still is today. However, the idea of employees as fanatical followers always struck me as too cult-like. I’d bet with superb vision and organization (managements job), and deep skill and insight (workers job), you can get the results without the fanaticism. Maybe that aspect is just played up for thr media.
- curtis 9y agoSteve Jobs was really bad at a lot of things, but it seems that there were some things he was really good at. One of those things was recruiting really talented people -- Wozniak and the original Macintosh team for some early examples. I think it's possible that the quality of your team in many fields is so important that a lot of other stuff that seems like it should make a difference to the effort doesn't actually make a big one.
- beebmam 9y agoWow, I'm shocked at how religious these people are about their ideas. There's a lot of statements that many in this video make that have no serious evidence behind them, beyond their own experimental analysis. When I was younger, I watched an interview with Richard Feynman where he described how exceptionally difficult it is to truly know something. I wish more people took that approach when it comes to their own workplaces.
- rafiki6 9y agoIt is only human to be over confident in our own stupidity. Rarely do we know it's even stupidity.
- sk_0919 9y agoIf that religious behavior led to products that people loved, is it really wrong to be religious about it? What's the alternative? Believe that you can't truly know anything and not build anything worthwhile? As I've grown older, I've come to believe that holding strong opinions and being decisive is extremely important and impactful. It comes with the caveat though that as soon as you find you're wrong, you need to be able to change direction and not cling to your disproved beliefs.
- hashmal 9y ago> holding strong opinions and being decisive is extremely important it is, and yes you can be wrong. but it's being strongly opinionated that matters, not being right (assuming you don't confuse that with just being stubborn). Many "meh" projects are just due to not being able to make strong, bold choices.
- castle-bravo 9y agoCan you point to something said in the video that isn't true or that you disagree with? If people believe passionately in something, is that grounds enough to discredit their belief?
- closeparen 9y agoUnlike human behavior, laypeople don't typically have default/traditional views about physics that they'll act out unless convinced otherwise. Extreme skepticism is adaptive when you are pursuing truth. Extreme skepticism only of the ideas you're not already acting out is less adaptive when making operational decisions.
- jimnotgym 9y agoHaving recently watched the Steve Jobs film, I am inclined to ignore his advice on this, like I will skip his advice on parenting. The only piece of good advice for someone in the position of a young Steve Jobs is to find a friend like Woz who actually knows how to do something.
- kakaorka 9y agoWould you mind telling me which of the Steve jobs films is the one you’re talking about?
- hi41 9y agoIn every video of Steve Jobs he comes across as one with incredible confidence. I learnt that he dropped out of college and it amazes me to see him exude such confidence. I grew up in India and was constantly told to "shut up and sit down" because I am not qualified yet. I got my bachelor's degree and still feel like I am nothing. Did Steve Jobs get his amazing confidence because of the cultural difference in USA where people are careful not to insult someone. Due to the number of times I have been told to shut up and sit down, I have not gained confidence to speak against power and to lead. I always look at confident people like Steve Jobs with jealousy. May be some of the members of HN can help me here.
- sprafa 9y agoSteve probably had a strong inclination towards narcisism. There's not much you can do there. If you read about his behaviour at this time and at later times from the Isaacson biography, he was clearly not a great person to be around a lot of the time. He was lucky enough to rope in a genius - Woz - to make a computer he could sell brilliant - thanks to his narcisism, maybe - and make 100 million out of it. From then on he almost destroyed two companies - Pixar and Next - until he learnt how to run one properly at Apple 2.0
- seltzered_ 9y agoThere’s likely some cultural difference, but can’t read too much into these videos. There’s always going to be a feeling of “imposter syndrome” when comparing yourself to folks in videos or ted talks. And then when you meet them in person you realize they have fears, days where they have no confidence. Steve’s confidence can come at a cost too though. Steve was part of imposing work anti-poaching agreements so employees couldn’t easily switch jobs to certain tech companies. There’s also plenty of untold stories of Steve yelling at employees and making them cry. While I overall like Apple and would love to work there, it’s worth asking... What else is behind the video? Are there people who’ve been hurt by Steve? Do you want to be that personality? As far as handling your own confidence, it comes with time. I’d recommend learning to take some impromptu debate, a dance class, etc. to be around people more. Particularly outside circles of friends that belittle you.
- maxxxxx 9y agoI think one of the main things is that he instilled an "elite" mentality in the team. My best experiences have been where I was working in a tight knit team where everybody respected it each other and had high standards for new people. The worst experience is when management treats you like a cheap, replaceable commodity.
- vfulco 9y agoThe survivorship bias in these vids and articles is overwhelming. Spend any time in corporate america and you'll see that the "success" stories are often run behind the fancy public veneer, by tyrannical megalomaniacs who give not a whit for their employees so long as the cog remains working hard for the machine.
- borplk 9y agoMost of the similar materials are like that. You could give the transcript of these interviews to a Mr-nobody-Joe-Schmoe and have them say it. And no one would care, if not laugh to their face. It's 90% about who says it, and maybe 10% about what is being said.
- PeachPlum 9y agoIt's not even secret sauce. Pick up most management books and you'ok see the same. Jack Welch's version was "get the right people on the bus and then decide where to go" Lou Gestners is "culture is not part of the game, it's the only game"
- yeukhon 9y agoI had a really really nice manager. He's technical but he admits he isn't catching up with the current technology landscape quickly, especially in his role he didn't have to be hands-on at all. From time to time he'd said to me "I don't see myself adding any values" because he felt "he didn't know what he should be doing". However, he was a very nice people manager. He listens well, and he treats his team well. He would protect me even when I disrespected and frustrated the whole chain of commands (well they all respected my history of great contributions but they just weren't happy with the way I was acting - probably due to my mental illness). But my manager kept me under his arms, and would rely on the engineers to run the technical show as he sat in the backseat listening during meetings (he would step in if needed to keep "politics" out). Often you don't get both "very technical + very good people manager" type of manager, so if it were up to me I'd pick a people manager who is great at communication and have respects for his/her engineers to do their jobs without tight oversight. If the team isn't able to resolve a technical decision, then it is the manager's time to become an arbitrator: let people cool down, break down the problem and then discuss options. SJ's advice on not micromanaging is probably the only thing I can agree on. Don't micromanage, but make sure everyone knows you are the manager, and everyone on the team deserves to be kept informed by one another. There shouldn't be a "I am working on a ticket but I will update you when I am done in a week." That was me. Don't be the old me. It was toxic, no matter how successful I was technically.
- colin_mccabe 9y agoCounterpoint: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Hide_Under_This_Desk.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...