What we should learn from Apple

From InfoCamp

Pete Mortensen @morepete www.cultofmac.com

What I didn't learn from Steve Jobs

The people who say what about Apple you should do are typically wrong about it. This is an attempt to distill what is a genuinely good practice and what is not.

Five Principles

1. Don't be Steve! Be yourself!

In the Fortune 100 there are maybe 200 charismatic CEOs. Figure out what you're really good at and be more of yourself.

2. Prototype in HD If you want to create something new (Jonathon Ive talks about this a lot), you need to prototype in high definition.

You can't really tell if it is any good unless you actually try it out. Slow prototyping that tells you a lot more will tell you if your product will actually work.

3. Ignore the status quo "Don't give people what they say that want…give them what they will want." is Steve Jobs' Henry Fordesque saying that calls on you to think about the future.

Look at the CONTEXT for what you're creating, then make something appropriate to that context.

4. Suck at using technology Pete Mortensen claims that Steve Jobs probably doesn't know how to use anything that his engineers make.

Use fresh eyes!

5. Over-promise, over-deliver Apple often ships with features that seem to be missing. So what they do is put out the new, awesome thing at launch. And then later they fill in the boring office-focused details like Outlook.

Conversation: Apple and Google are competing in similar territory for the first time. Google's phone is at 90%. There are little things that aren't quite right, if you're texting and a phone call comes in you can't access to answer button.

Conversation about design thinking!