Inside the Apple Factory: Software Design in the Age of Steve Jobs

Even though hundreds of millions of people use Apple products every single day, very few people have been able to reveal the secrets and the stories behind designing them. But software engineer Ken Kocienda, who worked there in the final years of the Steve Jobs era -- "the Golden Age of Apple" -- offers an inside look at Apple's creative process in his widely acclaimed book, Creative Selection. He's the "Directly Responsible Individual" (more on that title within!) for designing iPhone multi-touch and much more under the watchful eye of Steve Jobs... who, by the way, would have been 64 years old today.
This is an insider’s account of creativity - with lessons for software design and product management for anyone - because it delves into experiments around designing novel user interfaces, as well as the deep questions many companies face around organizing creativity and the creative decision-making process. Especially given a strong leader (and product visionary like Steve Jobs). a16z Deal and Research operating partner Frank Chen - formerly VP of Products and UI Design at HP Software as well as VP of Product Development at a consumer-facing startup before that, and Director of Product Management at Netscape and product manager at Oracle too - interviews Kocienda in this in-depth video interview all about product design.
This conversation is the golden ticket into the Golden Age of design, with lessons for any software developer, product manager, organizational leader, or maker. Enter this video… and feel free to explore the different topics labeled throughout:
-- How Apple thought about open source in 2001
-- The role of demos in Apple’s software development process
-- Career management fork in the road: ship teams or ship products?
-- The Apple notion of a “Directly Responsible Individual”
-- Apple’s extreme secrecy: feature or bug?
-- How the team decided to ship iPhone OS without copy and paste
-- The scariest room in SIlicon Valley: demo’ing to Steve Jobs
-- Was there too much hero worship at Apple?
-- The role of whimsy and playfulness in designing software
-- Did waiting for Steve to make decisions slow decision-making?

[@jamauai]

Dude asking all the right questions. Amazing interview.

[@danielxing7082]

As an Apple user for more than 15 years, I am always very interested in the topic of Apple and Steve Jobs. I watched a massive amount of information. And I really enjoyed the interview. They shared a lot of good staffs that inspire me. Great content. Thanks for sharing.

[@jackg570]

It’s amazing to think about the link from Ken’s early passion for photography, teaching and web design, to iPhone and iPad keyboard design.

[@MrSushant3]

Indeed, quite inspiring as well. At least for me. 😃

[@deepakbalakrishna]

Wonderful conversation

[@sethweidman3802]

Thanks for this very high quality, fascinating interview, Frank!

[@user-kg1od9es5d]

incredibly insightful video. Thankyou!!

[@alexwchenpro]

Thank you Ken for sharing your stories, the world is a better place because of your book and this interview :)

[@terryleach8933]

Great conversation! I gain a few valuable insights that I can use, I'll watch or listen to this great interview again and recreate names for the processes I think are innovative so I can put them in my mental model.

[@florianwolf5438]

This is a really good interview. Great questions and great answers. Thank you!

[@JoeWong81]

Steve turns in his chair and looks directly at me and it's like the eye of sauron lol!!! one can only imagine...

[@SiddhantPatil]

Wonderful interview, thank you for sharing!

[@henrydashwood]

These conversations have been great. Do you think they could be added to the A16Z podcast as well?

[@a16z]

Yes, we'll "port" this conversation to the podcast. Stay tuned!

[@swyxTV]

as a developer, out of all these great anecdotes the one that really sticks out is the deciding on the 57x57 icon size because of a game. Like... really you couldn’t round it down to 56? or up to say 60? Couldve made some lives easier. as to Frank’s question - collaboration to the point of not knowing who can take credit seems really great. I would like that but have not found it yet. (written on an iphone x)

[@yekcel74]

When you say "couldve made some lives easier", who are the "lives" are you referring to?

[@kristopherleslie8343]

Sw yx yea not sure how that helps

[@RappMike]

I would love to hear how Apple did and does “dev ops.” It takes thousands of people to produce products as complex as iOS. It’s deceptive to present the process only as a developer comes up with an idea and then presents it to Steve.

[@constantavogadro7823]

Hold on. Is it one of the old iPhones?

[@luxurywatches3751]

So this is "One Guy"

[@tobrie1976]

Which book is it in front of them?

[@sanjaysi2010]

Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs

[@dococ5912]

YAA THAT WERE ANSANE, OMG

[@Households1234]

Would someone please inform the interviewer that it is not only very distributive to talk over the guest but also very rude.

[@constantavogadro7823]

I tried to click on him and tell him, but he seems not to have noticed

[@frankchen6823]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@frankchen6823]

Thanks, Conor!

[@avoicu]

@Conor Greive second that

[@gandalfkhan]

what's wrong with you? this is probably one of the best discussion and Frank did a great job interviewing a Type A personality like Ken.