Much has been said about the passing of Steve Jobs; his accomplishments, the way he was ousted from Apple only to return years later and turn the company around. The way he was instrumental in creating iconic personal computing products, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. Jobs was central in the success of Pixar and setting new standards for computer animated entertainment, too. To my mind, his most important contributions went beyond the success of any consumer product or movie. Who Jobs was and what he embodied was a rare type of ... dare we say it? Genius.
What first drew me to Apple products over 15 years ago was ease-of-use. I'd worked on a variety of operating systems on a variety of platforms from MVS and VM on IBM 390 mainframes to various flavors of UNIX on workstations from Sun, HP and others. When I started consulting, I wanted a platform that would just work without me having to futz with it. MacOS products weren't always perfect, but they worked very well for me. The fact that products themselves were elegant was just a bonus. Sure, Apple products cost a bit more, but in the long run I found they paid for themselves in terms of reliability and simplicity.
This strikes at the heart of what Jobs seemed obsessed with: Hardware and software that, to the greatest extend possible, stayed out of the way of the user. He even had the hutzpah to believe that he knew better what the user needed that the users themselves. Jobs eschewed just giving customers just what they wanted. Instead, he encourage, cajoled, threatened and drove his employees to create what the customer actually needed. And about 90% of the time, he was right.
When the iPod was introduced, my first impression of the user interface was that it was bare bones, even amateurish. It turns out I was wrong. The iPod became wildly popular because it wasn't about the device, it was about allowing the user to access and enjoy music. It was all about the music. Oh, and digital rights management, too, because there needed to be money coming in to fund more ground-breaking designs.
If genius is defined as vision, then it is also equal parts arrogance and tenacity in pursuing what you believe in. In a world where businesses simply want to post good numbers for the next two quarters and to produce short-lived, blockbuster products, regardless of whether or not they are good or even excellent products, Jobs was an anachronism. He had the long view and the nerve to stay the course. And he had the ability to convince others to work with him to achieve those goals.
People who know have told me that working for Jobs intimidating. He could be demanding, brutally frank, maybe even a bastard because he expected that whatever the product, it had to be the best that they could produce. It had to be excellent. It had to be great or embody greatness. Jobs didn't always succeed, but even his failures were inspiring.
With Job's passing the world has lost something, but we've gained something, too. Not just the legacy of his products and the successful companies he led. We have an example of a different way to conduct business and a model of success that is defined not simply by profit and market share, but by the single-minded pursuit of greatness and an abiding respect for the end user. With hard work and the long view, it's possible for any one of us to move toward the light. That is the true Jobs Legacy.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
