A Brief Book Review of Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda
“Gentlemen, we have a great deal of ground to cover. We’re going to do things a lot differently than they’ve been done here before… [We’re] going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because perfection is not attainable. But we are going to relentlessly chase it because, in the process, we will catch excellence.” - Vince Lombardi
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it [a product] looks like. People think it’s this veneer—that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels. Design is how it works.” - Steve Jobs
“Look for ways to make quick progress. Watch for project stalls that might indicate a lack of potential. Cut corners to skip unnecessary effort. Remove distractions to focus attention where it needs to be. Start approximating your end goal as soon as possible. Maximize the impact of your most difficult effort. Combine inspiration, decisiveness, and craft to make decisions.” - Ken Kocienda
If you ever wanted a deep, detailed look inside Apple and the workplace culture that enabled the creation of the greatest consumer products in history, this book is for you. Creative Selection (2018) is written by Ken Kocienda, who was a Principle Engineer of iPhone Software at Apple. Kocienda played key roles in numerous inventions that, at the time, were incredibly novel, differentiated, and difficult to create but today are almost taken for granted. These inventions include the Safari web browser, the keyboard for the original iPhone, and touchscreen autocorrection features on iOS.
We learn a lot in this book. We learn about the importance of pushing for simplicity and incorporating self-explanatory elements into whatever you create. To do this requires a lot of work. Explaining how it’s done, Kocienda repeatedly evokes Thomas Edison’s famous quip that invention is “one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration”. This entire book is essentially a case study in support of that notion. It is written in praise of the unavoidable necessity of “unglamorous grunt work”. I discussed this topic at length in my essay The Slog last year.
Kocienda takes us into the Apple conference rooms where the software powering the iPhone and the iPad were invented. Conference rooms with names like Diplomacy, Between, A Rock, and A Hard Place. Conference rooms with as much character and aesthetic displeasure as a thirty-year-old Peter Pan bus stop annex, with sparse seating consisting of bean bag chairs and beat-up old Ikea furniture—basically as different and unpolished as the inviting, airy, and beautiful Apple Stores we see today.
In these rooms, The Man (i.e., Steve Jobs) and the rigid hierarchy beneath him are ever present. But just as present and just as important is a culture built around demos. Yes, demos. If there is one thing that seems to stand out in Apple from this book, it is a superabundant focus on the power of demos. But not just any demos. A constant flow of demos that build upon previous iterations. Demos that provide “concrete and specific examples” that spur discussion and actionable feedback that leads to progress for the next iteration of the demo. Demos that someday become the seamless, integrated products that wow you. Apple seems a culture focused on tangible progress, not empty brainstorming sessions. It probably helps that everyone from the company mentioned in the book is world class at whatever their role is and tireless in their devotion to their craft.
We also learn of the importance of imbruing “craft, taste, and empathy” into everything we do; the importance of “dogfooding” our creations (i.e., living with them from a user’s perspective); and the importance of embracing the idea that “when software behavior is mysterious, get more organized.”
We also learn about the danger of “Seagull Managers”, namely a “top executive who is rarely around but flies in occasionally and unexpectedly from who knows where, lands on your beach, squawks noisily, fans its wings all over the place, launches itself back into the air, circles overhead, drops a big poop on everyone, and then flies away, leaving the rest of the team to clean up the mess, figure out what it all meant, and wonder what to do about the inevitable follow-up visit.” Yikes. If this sounds like you, work on yourself; try not to be like that.
There are a lot of great, useable insights in this engaging and welcome book. -