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Steve Jobs left designer Jony Ive more power than anyone at Apple
- tormentor 15y agoI think he gives Ive more power because of his experience with Paul Rand and the Nextstep logo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8idEf-Iak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8idEf-Iak In short Paul Rand tells Steve I will make you one design and I will solve your problem. Since then I believe he has given designers (Jon Ive in this case) their space to design whatever they want. Trust in the designer.
- swah 15y agoI suppose Ive is Taste, now that Jobs is gone.
- jinushaun 15y agoBut yet, you never see him up on stage... There's a cult of personality around Ive on the Internet—everyone wants him to replace Jobs as CEO, but is that even realistic? Sure, he can design, but can he run a company?
- Tyrannosaurs 15y agoMore than that would he want to run a company. I'm fairly certain the answer to that is no.
- ugh 15y agoIs there anyone who can replace Ive in his current position? If you think there’s not then you already have the answer to the question whether Ive could become CEO. His ability as a CEO doesn’t even figure into it, at least not very much. He can’t be CEO and designer at the same time and a designer like Ive is at least as important for Apple as a good CEO. I used to like the idea of Ive as a CEO but in hindsight that’s foolish and shortsighted. Sure, it sounds good but don’t you dare start thinking about it.
- MatthewPhillips 15y agoNot promoting someone because they're too good at their current job is a mistake bad companies make.
- ugh 15y agoThe opposite could also be a mistake: What if you promote that person to a position it is not qualified for? (I think the Peter Principle was already mentioned around here.)
- MatthewPhillips 15y agoOf course, you shouldn't promote someone as a lifetime achievement award. But at the same time if you hold someone back that has higher aspirations you will lose them.
- ugh 15y agoWe don’t know anything about Ive’s aspirations.
- swombat 15y agoThere's a difference between not promoting someone from lead code monkey, and not promoting someone from head of industrial design at Apple. The latter is a valid landing point for the rest of your life.
- MatthewPhillips 15y agoWe all make that judgment individually. We all have different aspirations. You can't hold someone back because theyre too good at their job. You can let them stay where they are, if that's what they want. Otherwise you have to eventually make the tough decision to either promote your talent, or let them go.
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- fdb 15y agoHave you heard about the Peter Principle? From Wikipedia: "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence", meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle Knowing what somebody is not good at is almost as essential as knowing what people are good at. I guess both Ive and Apple know this.
- pak 15y agoIf you believe in the Peter Principle, you might be interested in the Gervais Principle (http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/) which uses characters from The Office to wax philosophical about organizational structure. At the very least, the first part is worth a read. It diverges from the Peter Principle in a number of thought-provoking ways.
- r00fus 15y agoHighly entertaining (and insightful), thanks.
- geophile 15y agoThere is a subtlety however. At most companies, you need less competence the higher you rise. What gets rewarded is playing the game, not competence. http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/rule-zero-how-things-really-work/17982276?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1 http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/rule-zero-how-things-reall...
- jonnathanson 15y agoI don't think Ive wants the CEO position. He has his dream job right now, and he's the best in the world at it. And he's certainly been well compensated for it.
- nobody31415 15y agoHe doesn't have to run a company - that's what VPs are for - he has to LEAD a company. In the 70s you lead by having the best hardware - you needed Woz at the head. In the 80/90s you lead by having the best OS - that's why Next mattered. Then you lead by having the best design - it would have made sense to have the designer at the head. Apple is currently winning because it has the best production management in the world. It got their by having the best design but it's unassailable now because it totally owns the manufacturing business. Who else can get Samsung to produce cheaper parts for it's tablet than they can supply to their own tablets!
- technoslut 15y agoInterestingly enough, there is a quote from the Jobs book, from Ive, that was tweeted by Bianca Bosker, who works at the Huffington Post: https://twitter.com/bbosker/status/127357233632788480 https://twitter.com/bbosker/status/127357233632788480 "Jony Ive:'I pay maniacal attention to where an idea comes from...so it hurts when [Jobs] takes credit for one of my designs'" As much as Jobs considered Ive a 'spiritual partner' there was still a power play that existed between the two.
- AllenKids 15y agoWell then next time Apple introduces a new design, he better hauls his ass up on the stage to receive the applauds. I personally would love that.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- bomatson 15y agoI second that notion, creative talent of this magnitude needs to be recognized more often!
- jsz0 15y agoI wonder if this is why Apple started showing their little 'how its made' videos at the end of new product announcements that have often featured Ives talking about design.
- tomelders 15y agoIt staggers me that time and time again Apple lays out the reasons for it's unrivalled success for all to see, yet non of it's rivals seem interested in copying their methods and opt for simply copying their products. Fortune favours the brave.
- zipdog 15y agoAt its heart, design is a risk, because it looks to create what isn't. Most businesses are focussed on improving what is. The unknown is unquantifiable, and doesn't fit well into a spreadsheet
- mattgreenrocks 15y agoProbably because Apple's approach to design isn't what they teach in business school...which obviously means its an anomaly!
- Cushman 15y agoThis applies to Silicon Valley in general, I think. We take risks, we bet on long shots, we try to serve markets with zero demand and squeeze blood from stones. We spend money like it was just paper, and when we don't have money we give our time away for free working on things we believe in. According to traditional business management practices, no startup should last more than a couple of months. And most don't. And yet, somehow, Silicon Valley as a cultural economy is the most innovative, successful, profitable(?) place in the world. What the MBAs don't get is that a rising tide lifts all boats. If my company creates a new market, can't meet demand, and goes under, I can easily find great work with the competitor that put me out of business. Or start a new business that serves their customers in a new market. Shoot, even if all I get out of it is that I can use their product, that's great. I'm still better off, even though I "lost". And as long as we have this understanding with each other, that failure won't be punished, but rewarded, not with a golden parachute, but with more chances to fail-- then we're not afraid to take risks. We're allowed to be crazy. We're allowed to innovate. Bet our future on an insanely great new project for which there's no demand, why not? We have nothing to lose. It's just a company, there will be more like it. We might not get rich, this time, but we'll know we made a dent. Steve Jobs might not have invented that idea, but he sure taught it to a whole bunch of us.
- tobylane 15y agoI'd fear giving Ive too much power/ego/etc, he needs to be grounded to do what he does. At the other end of the scale, it has been said he wants to be in UK more (duh :P), don't know what has changed there.
- raheemm 15y agoGuess I'm buying this book. It'll be my first time to buy a book during first release. Good marketing by the publishers. This is sort of like Freemium model, no?
- blumentopf 15y agoTo those familiar with car history, there's a striking similarity between the Jobs/Ive duo and the Daimler/Maybach duo: Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach lead the automobile industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s just as Jobs and Ive lead the computing industry in the late 1900s and early 2000s. Maybach was the engineering genius who pioneered countless innovations in engine design, while Daimler had the intuition to get the right products to market and do the industrial power play.
- Kliment 15y agoThose are some damn nice CNC mills in the background of that photo. Wonder how much use they get.
- ugh 15y agoThat’s a screenshot from the documentary “Objectified”, here is the interview with Ive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0fe800C2CU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0fe800C2CU It sounds like those CNC mills are anything but decoration.
- jcurbo 15y agoSpeaking of that photo, the documentary it's from (Objectified) is very good and is on Netflix Instant Queue. (Might be available other ways but that's how I watched it)
- roadnottaken 15y agoIf you like that, the same group made another documentary called 'Helvetica' that is all about fonts and, specifically, about the history and ubiquity of Helvetica. It's also available on Netflix-instant and is a pretty good watch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica_(film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica_(film)
- krobertson 15y agoIf he is a designer who understands the manufacturing process, then that is awesome in my book. My father owns/runs a CNC manufacturing business. Sometimes the designers/drafters (more the case they have a background in CAD) don't understand the subtleties of manufacturing and materials. I mean, they aren't big gaps or anything. Best comparison is maybe coder vs tester. Both technical, but look at the same thing from two different perspectives.
- nobody31415 15y agoIt cuts both ways. There are designers who build things that can't be made - and especially things that can't be mass produced cheaply and easily. But there are also people with 20years of manufacturing experience who don't what that we can do more things cheaply and easily with 5-axis CNC mills and hot-wire cutters than you can with a casting.
- DodgyEggplant 15y agoThere was one Steve Jobs. If only two people can replace him, it's a little miracle. A master manager, and a master designer. They can continue w/o the ego fights. Like Bill Hewlet and the other guy (JOKING! Please spare my carma). They will do it, we all need them to do it.
- michaelfeathers 15y agoWho did they leave in charge of making sure people listen to him?
- afdssfda 15y agoTim Cook has been in charge for ages.
- sgt 15y agoThis fact alone left me feeling quite a lot better. Now I know Apple is in good hands at least for the time being. Tim Cook is also brilliant at what he does, and I am sure he trusts Ive as much as Jobs did.
- thepointyhat 15y agoHe designs stuff that looks pretty, but you can't open it to isolate power or replace the battery easily. It's dangerous. Having watched my MacBook Pro go up in flames and nearly take my house with it, I have first hand of how awfully designed Apple stuff is from a safety and engineering point of view. Also, I want to replace my iPod battery after 3 years (Nano 4th gen). Can I? Nope, not without special tools, high risk procedures and a flipping soldering iron.
- nknight 15y agoGreat, but... Ive only does industrial design, as far as I know. The other side of the coin is the software, and if that declines, Ive's going to be creating very well-designed paperweights. So who does Apple's software design?
- alexwolfe 15y agoI imagine he has some voice in the aesthetics of the software design. But it's true that the whole package (hardware and software) is the combination that makes apple products great.
- coob 15y agoForstall appears to have same tyrannical streak as Jobs.
- jad 15y ago> So who does Apple's software design? Scott Forstall is responsible for iOS. My understanding is that Eddy Cue is responsible for the iTunes Store, including the App Store, and now, iCloud. He was promoted to Executive Vice President back in August. I'm not sure who's in charge of Mac software. You can see brief profiles of the various people here: http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/ http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/
- Timothee 15y agoI'm not sure who's in charge of Mac software. It used to be Bertrand Serlet until he left last March. I'm not sure why he hasn't been replaced, at least from an outside perspective (no one is shown as in charge of Mac on the page you linked to). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Serlet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Serlet
- 0x09 15y agoThat'd be Craig Federighi, he doesn't seem to have a bio on apple.com. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/03/23Bertrand-Serlet-to-Leave-Apple.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/03/23Bertrand-Serlet-to...
- alexwolfe 15y agoIn some ways because Ive was the head designer he had more power than anyone else regardless of Steve's extra effort. His work would impact every level of the company so immediately regardless of peoples personal opinion.
- brown9-2 15y agoOf course, any new CEO/board can undo what previous CEOs and boards have set in stone.
- artursapek 15y agoI think they all have too much respect for Steve to change anything like this for a while.
- 0x12 15y agoThe hard part will be when reality rubs up against things set in stone. The big trick will be to determine exactly when change is needed versus when some people just want to change things to make their mark.
- zach 15y agoBy comparison, John Lasseter has more power than anyone at Pixar. I think the situation could be similar. Now, sure, he has to commit to budgets and timeframes but if he really wants something you have to figure it's going to happen. And of course, he's not the top manager, the CEO equivalent in charge of the studio itself — Ed Catmull is. And yes, everything creative gets picked apart by other directors so it's not like he's the only voice. But you'd have to say John Lasseter has more power than anyone at Pixar, assuming you wanted to look at things that way. You could also say he's the creative heart of Pixar. It's sure nice that those two things match up. Edit: I explored this subject in my Quora answer on Pixar, Valve and Blizzard for those interested. http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-commonalities-in-how-Pixar-Valve-and-Blizzard-are-run-as-organizations/answer/Zach-Baker http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-commonalities-in-how-Pixa...
- AllenKids 15y agoYeah, sometimes we get the toilet seat cover iBook and Cars 2, but by and large having a creative guru under nobody else's thumb seems to work well for both companies.
- danilocampos 15y agoSay what you will about the original iBook, 14 year old me would have killed anyone you asked to have a Tangerine model. Loved that design so much. And it had Airport, which was science fiction shit at the time.
- AllenKids 15y agoIt was certainly playful and fun and seriously one of a kind in the laptop category to this day. But, Ive kinda let his design overwhelm the product and the design was a lot less timeless comparing to his similarly themed first gen iMac. I consider it an evolution of the pretty ugly eMate (though of course much better), and it was created at a time Ive still was maturing as an industrial designer working closely with Jobs.
- MarkMc 15y agoWell, not THAT much power: 'Ive wants to spend more time in the UK where he wants his sons to go to school, the Times claims, but the Apple board has refused to support his relocation. The story quotes a family friend as saying that "they have told him in no uncertain terms that if he headed back to England he would not be able to sustain his position with them".' From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2011/feb/28/apple-jonathan-ive http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2011/feb/28/apple-j... Sounds to me like HP-level stupidity from the Apple board.
- pedrolll 15y ago...or that's his excuse for staying in the U.S.
- AllenKids 15y agoIs not that just a story with no reliable source whatsoever? And the true tabloid Daily Mail actually interviewed some of Ive's friends and they all said never heard of such a desire from Jony Ive himself. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1367481/Apples-Jonathan-Ive-How-did-British-polytechnic-graduate-design-genius.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1367481/Appl...
- msbarnett 15y agoThat's from back in February, so even if it were true it says nothing about how much power Ive has post Jobs, and there's little reason to believe it's true, since it was heavily denied by even its claimed sources when other publications talked to them subsequently.
- psawaya 15y agoI think it's interesting that Jony Ive came to Apple before Steve returned. Jobs didn't have to recruit him, and he fit perfectly into what Apple became.
- moizsyed 15y agoRight now Ive has the best of both worlds, he has more power than anyone at Apple, and hes not the CEO. The CEO role comes with an extra layer of public scrutiny. Knowing that Jony Ive has more power than anyone at Apple gives me a certain amount of relief about Apple being on the same trajectory for the next foreseeable future.
- Bratwurst 15y agoJony Ive is just the Shigeru Miyamoto of Apple.
- driftsumi-e 15y agoha, that's a great parallel to draw. miyamoto is behind many of the most iconic videogame characters AND game designs ever seen. so, in fairness to miyamoto, he's got a little steve in him as well.
- gaius 15y agoWhere did the abbreviation "Jony" come from? It's Jonny.
- verisimilitude 15y agoStraight out of a keynote: http://technology.automated.it/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/b08b727c9a90a9380c9942576a18ec4e.jpg http://technology.automated.it/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/b08b7...
- gaius 15y agoI suspect then this is like Colin Powell being known as Coal-in... He's stated himself his mother calls him Colin!
- markerdmann 15y agoThis brings to mind a blog post published by Darryl Jonckheere in January that argued for making Jony Ive CEO: http://www.darryljonckheere.com/2011/01/24/why-jonathan-ive-should-be-apples-next-ceo/ http://www.darryljonckheere.com/2011/01/24/why-jonathan-ive-...
- aik 15y agoI wonder how Jobs' death affected Ive? I would think Ive must be hugely grateful for what Jobs saw in him.
- maranas 15y agoI'm not surprised - Ive deserves it. The designs he came up with were the driving factor in Apple's success.
- anactofgod 15y agoInteresting. And a Bloomberg Businessweek article has Scott Forstall as Jobs' heir-apparent at Apple. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/scott-forstall-the-sorcerers-apprentice-at-apple-10122011.html http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/scott-forstall-the-sorc...
- Apocryphon 15y agoJony Ive? Yet another man behind the man.
- TechnoFou 15y agoIt's interesting how the soul of Steve Jobs stays in Apple to control the company even after passing out. A company that functions through the power of will, creativity and beliefs.... it's different from all the corporate VP's and Executives we all see so organized at other companies!