4 ms·

I think the Apple RDF was more a "Steve Jobs" RDF

by dvhh 14y ago

icebraining 14y ago
Actually, that's exactly right, according to Bud Tribble, the person who coined it, inside Apple: "Bud, that's crazy!", I told him. "We've hardly even started yet. There's no way we can get it done by then." "I know," he responded, in a low voice, almost a whisper. "You know? If you know the schedule is off-base, why don't you correct it?" "Well, it's Steve. Steve insists that we're shipping in early 1982, and won't accept answers to the contrary. The best way to describe the situation is a term from Star Trek. Steve has a reality distortion field." "A what?" "A reality distortion field. In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he's not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules. And there's a couple of other things you should know about working with Steve." "What else?" "Well, just because he tells you that something is awful or great, it doesn't necessarily mean he'll feel that way tomorrow. You have to low-pass filter his input. And then, he's really funny about ideas. If you tell him a new idea, he'll usually tell you that he thinks it's stupid. But then, if he actually likes it, exactly one week later, he'll come back to you and propose your idea to you, as if he thought of it." I thought Bud was surely exaggerating, until I observed Steve in action over the next few weeks. The reality distortion field was a confounding melange of a charismatic rhetorical style, an indomitable will, and an eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand. If one line of argument failed to persuade, he would deftly switch to another. Sometimes, he would throw you off balance by suddenly adopting your position as his own, without acknowledging that he ever thought differently. Amazingly, the reality distortion field seemed to be effective even if you were acutely aware of it, although the effects would fade after Steve departed. We would often discuss potential techniques for grounding it (see Are You Gonna Do It?), but after a while most of us gave up, accepting it as a force of nature. http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Reality_Distortion_Field.txt http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Reality_Distortion_Fi...
- talmand 14y ago
  I like how most people remember the bit about the reality distortion field but don't remember the part about Jobs stealing people's ideas and presenting them as his own.
- sswezey 14y ago
  The fact that there was a 1984-esque commercial from Apple and Steve Jobs had the characteristics of Big Brother and the Ministry of Truth is intriguing.

I think the Apple RDF was more a "Steve Jobs" RDF

by dvhh 14y ago

I think the Apple RDF was more a "Steve Jobs" RDF

Actually, that's exactly right, according to Bud Tribble, the person who coined it, inside Apple: "Bud, that's crazy!", I told him. "We've hardly even started yet. There's no way we can get it done by then." "I know," he responded, in a low voice, almost a whisper. "You know? If you know the schedule is off-base, why don't you correct it?" "Well, it's Steve. Steve insists that we're shipping in early 1982, and won't accept answers to the contrary. The best way to describe the situation is a term from Star Trek. Steve has a reality distortion field." "A what?" "A reality distortion field. In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he's not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules. And there's a couple of other things you should know about working with Steve." "What else?" "Well, just because he tells you that something is awful or great, it doesn't necessarily mean he'll feel that way tomorrow. You have to low-pass filter his input. And then, he's really funny about ideas. If you tell him a new idea, he'll usually tell you that he thinks it's stupid. But then, if he actually likes it, exactly one week later, he'll come back to you and propose your idea to you, as if he thought of it." I thought Bud was surely exaggerating, until I observed Steve in action over the next few weeks. The reality distortion field was a confounding melange of a charismatic rhetorical style, an indomitable will, and an eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand. If one line of argument failed to persuade, he would deftly switch to another. Sometimes, he would throw you off balance by suddenly adopting your position as his own, without acknowledging that he ever thought differently. Amazingly, the reality distortion field seemed to be effective even if you were acutely aware of it, although the effects would fade after Steve departed. We would often discuss potential techniques for grounding it (see Are You Gonna Do It?), but after a while most of us gave up, accepting it as a force of nature. http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Reality_Distortion_Field.txt http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Reality_Distortion_Fi...

talmand 14y ago
I like how most people remember the bit about the reality distortion field but don't remember the part about Jobs stealing people's ideas and presenting them as his own.
sswezey 14y ago
The fact that there was a 1984-esque commercial from Apple and Steve Jobs had the characteristics of Big Brother and the Ministry of Truth is intriguing.