We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products, and that is not changing.
We are constantly focussing on innovating.
We believe in the simple not the complex.
We believe that we need to own and control the technologies that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.
We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us.
We believe in deep collaboration and cross pollination of our groups, which allows us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group of the company, and we have the self honesty to admit when we are wrong and the courage to change.
I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well, and I strongly believe that Apple is doing the best work in history.

All I can say is wow. Culture and values that are clear, convincing, simple.

This is the call to arms at Apple, this is who they are and it is reflected in their work.

Is your work reflective of your Values and Culture?

I find Tim’s words very powerful and motivating…

Adam uses many examples of how SJ (Steve Jobs) drilled culture and acceptable behavior through the ranks at Apple and describes his fight against the bureaucracy that tends to cripple and slow organizations as they grow. SJ was fervent in his fight to maintain a start up type environment upon his return to Apple. Committee’s were banished and exchanged with “Directly Responsible Individuals” (DRI) so that EVERYONE knew who was responsible for what tasks and areas in the organization. Key employees would be pulled from one area/product line to another as deemed appropriate. Business chops were NOT required at Apple as the focus was on having all employees focussed obsessively on the specific thing that were exceptional at. Being a well rounded employee is neither required or frankly wanted. Be the best at YOUR THING. Don’t worry about P&L, don’t worry about convincing four layers of middle management that your idea was good (there IS NO middle management). The focus as a designer was on design…all else be damned, if you were in charge of product packaging, literally NOTHING else matters to you. Apple is not a breeding ground for Managers who want to run a P&L and be responsible for a division or a market…it just doesn’t exist within their entirely functional org structure alignment. Just think the biggest graphics thoughts you can and focus on being world class in your area.

Teams were isolated and teams were small at Apple. In part this was due to secrecy, in part to allow folks to focus on their own world and in part it was to ensure everyone had that insular start-up feeling. They were part of a large organization but felt very much like they were in their own little start-up. Apple would NEVER have 10 people on a team to accomplish what could be done with three people who work doggedly, are the best in the company and can focus.

Exec meetings run every week and all new ideas percolate to the Exec team where swift judgements are made and actioned. Communicate up and action down was the mantra.

Clear direction, individual accountability, a sense of urgency, constant feedback, clarity of mission…..all key Apple values and values that are not that dissimilar from the ones all of you hold true at your startups. Be direct, be focussed, be deadline oriented.

SJ felt assessing and hiring talent was critical in his model and played a major role in this function at Apple. One of the Steve-ism’s that Apple ran by was “A players hire A players, B players hire C players…we ONLY want A players here”

There are so many examples and ways in this Chapter that give us thoughts and ideas of how to go about changing the way work is done in our larger organizations. Not all of these will work at all companies but there are some that are really great ideas that we should ALL be looking at and implementing in our organizations.

Are you a start-up, can you learn from Apple’s ways as you lay the groundwork for the future? As you struggle to drive innovation and big thinking in your company…use some of Apples examples and look at how you structure your teams, your organization and align them more closely with a start up model. It will allow you to grow focus, evaluate talent and make quicker decisions.

Sit down and think again about structure and focus and culture and make sure you have a deliberate plan…don’t just ‘let things happen’.

If we are not moving forward, we are moving backward…there is no standing still.
Where are you??

Book: Inside Apple.

Author Rob May drills into what Focus really means to a start-up company and provides useful tips on how to focus and what it ‘really’ means to do that in a more tactical manner.  Interesting perspective and good read…

What Does It Really Mean To “Focus” As A Startup? : Coconut Headsets.

NO to that extra feature…NO to that extra product…NO to anything that detracts you from designing, building and delivering the absolute BEST experience you can from your target customers.

This takes discipline, focus and courage!

This chapter focusses on explaining Apple’s mantra of focussing obsessively on every detail of every product that they make and how important the user experience and emotional connection with customers is.

I read recently that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will always remember how you made them feel. Apple is ALL ABOUT the FEEL, the emotional connection you (as the user) have with the company, the product, the experience.

Focus is hard

because while building a product or service and interacting with demo group, doing market testing, surveying existing customers you will bombarded with ideas, improvements, expansions, feature requests, etc, etc, etc. In isolation almost all of these requests can make total sense but if not put in context of the entire experience they can bloat, distract and actually serve to be counterproductive and WORSEN your user’s experience. FOCUS on what you want to deliver, focus on design, simplicity, beauty. Consciously think about the emotion and experience you want to leave the user with and really scrutinize anything you do in that context.

Focus is scary

because if you focus all your efforts on one simple elegant product and you *miss* the mark….there is nothing else to fall back on. No ‘other’ product to save you. Synthesizing your ideas down from 10 or 20 to the ONE that you are going to focus on can be paralyzing, but exercise the power of restraint.

Strategy is figuring out what NOT to do!

Do your home work, be brave, focus on delivering a feeling…

“It is not, as it turns out, necessary to be a micromanaging psychopath with narcissistic personality disorder (or even to pretend to be one) if you just hire smart people and give them real authority. The saddest thing about the Steve Jobs hagiography is all the young “incubator twerps” strutting around Mountain View deliberately cultivating their worst personality traits because they imagine that’s what made Steve Jobs a design genius. Cum hoc ergo propter hoc, young twerp. Maybe try wearing a black turtleneck too. For every Steve Jobs, there are a thousand leaders who learned to hire smart people and let them build great things in a nurturing environment of empowerment and it was AWESOME. That doesn’t mean lowering your standards. It doesn’t mean letting people do bad work. It means hiring smart people who get things done—and then getting the hell out of the way.”

James Siminoff.

Save it for Christmas Morning…no peeking!!

External secrecy is fairly easy to understand and is well practiced by most (although NONE as good as Apple). The basic premise is captured perfectly by Matt Drance in his blog ‘Apple Outsider’:

“The problem with talking smack (about an upcoming release) is that it immediately puts you on the clock. You almost guarantee public disappointment when the product doesnt ship exactly when promised or you have to drop features. If you just shut your mouth and let the product speak for itself -once you actually have a product- then there is a much better chance for people to be pleasantly surprised.” Apple clearly understands this, many others do not!

Early external product announcements also serve to give competitors time to respond and open you up to debate and criticism over what you have or have not built and may cannibalize too early existing products on the shelf (which will ultimately be cannibalized anyways…but timing is key). Building buzz and rumours is different from prereleasing product news. Buzz and rumours and free press is always awesome and you should encourage and support as much as possible. ANY specifics about ANYTHING should be avoided until ‘Christmas Morning’.

Internal secrecy is much more unique to Apple and they certainly take it to the extreme. Examples of this extend from the legendary removal of access to areas in the office when ‘new projects’ are beginning, to threats of termination and litigation for those who are caught or implicated in loose-lips. Often new employees when hired and for as long as a month after employment are not told and are not aware of exactly WHAT their job is or WHAT they will be working on. Examples and tactics used to ensure the culture of secrecy perpetuates everyday life and countless in this chapter….but the debate in my mind is about WHY.

Apple (and by Apple, Adam really means Steve!) again challenges the notion that transparency is a corporate virtue and instead they believe that there is a link between secrecy and productivity. Teams are purposely kept apart and encouraged to compete against each other. Employees who are not caught up in idle chit chat on whats going on in other areas of the company it is believed are ultimately more focused and productive in the project they are working on. There is a mentality that it is ok to rip someone a new asshole in the spirit of making the best product…yet another way that culturally the organization reflects and mirrors the actions of its leader. Apple is a very intense focussed environment where weekends and idle discussions and pleasantries that normally start a meeting do not exist. You get right to business! The internal secrecy should (and possibly does) make for a very unhappy workplace BUT Apple employees tend to work harder and longer under huge pressure and deadlines principally for the benefit of being able to say “I work at Apple” and to be able to walk in to a room and see that 9 out of 10 people in that room are using a devices that you had a hand in making.

So….does secrecy enhance productivity, focus and intensity in the work place?? Clearly it works at Apple but is it repeatable outside the magical land of Apple?? Productivity, focus and intensity are all traits than any and all of us want to exist in our Company’s….but at what cost? Are we prepared to risk employee happiness (through a more family culture, where we work with friends, know each others kids, talk about our weekends, feel wanted and loved) in exchange for this magic high producing environment where intrinsic value comes from pride of ownership? Are they mutually exclusive?

I think that productivity, focus and intensity can be derived and instilled in many ways and while Apple’s culture effective drives this output from employees it is not the only way and I would argue in the long term for most Company’s it is not the best strategy to deploy…

What say you???

As I reflect on this article in light of the Apple series I am currently doing it poses a bit of a chicken and egg noodling in my head but principally I agree with the notion presented.  Again, using Apple as an example of this thesis there is NO debate Culture IS King at Apple.  Culture is reflective and, in this case, directly reflective of the late Steve Jobs.  It is the uniqueness of this culture that has inspired some debate, some of which I have explored in my earlier post.  Facts that are NOT debatable are:

1. Apple’s economic success since the return of SJ
2. The Culture at Apple is deep rooted

Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch | Fast Company.