There has been a lot written and said about Steve Jobs over the last couple weeks.
As I watch Walter Isaacson on Charlie Rose this morning I am both inspired and shocked imagining what it would be like working for Steve.
There is a story of Steve Jobs telling Wosniak he had four days to write BreakOut for the Atari.
Woz said it would take two months to write this much code.
Jobs looked him in the eye with that unblinking stare, and said:
You can do it in four days.
And Woz did it in four days.
Now of course this is exactly the opposite of what we teach in agile.
You don’t go forward with a plan you don’t believe in.
You don’t ignore your team’s estimates.
And you face reality.
Except that in this case Steve was right. We we would have been wrong.
It’s an inspiring paradox.
All the people who survived his often brutal management style, were fiercely loyal to the end and said:
He made me do things I didn’t think I could do.
How so should we reconcile this with agile? Is this a management style we should emulate and recommend, or even strive to copy?
I don’t think so. There are a couple things I believe are very unique to Steve.
# 1 Passion
# 2 Drive
# 3 Uncompromising rejection of mediocity.
Most of us don’t have these qualities in abundance. Nor are most of us prepared to make the sacrificies it takes to do the things he’s done.
There are always going to be examples of heroic stories of people doing the impossible against all odds. And that’s good. We need to be inspired.
I just don’t think it’s a model that works for everyone. Nor should it.
Now I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find these stories inspring, or I didn’t get fired up every time I watch Steve’s Standford commencement speech.
But at the end of the day, I’ve got remember that what worked for Steve, won’t work for me.
And I’ve got to find my own way.
Oct 29, 2011 @ 18:19:51
The key period was how he was before the Apple II was launched. Everything after that was based on his position as one of the founders of that Apple computer, so he could push the Mac, iPod, iPhone, iTunes and so on. People working for him wanted to please, to stretch beyond his demands because of his prior successes (that they built for him). What was it like before Apple II?
Oct 29, 2011 @ 18:48:01
The Charlie Rose interview touched on this a bit.
I think a key period of time for him was what happened with Next.
At Next didn’t focus on making money.
He focused on making a beautiful machine.
Which unfortunately was very expensive and eventually flopped.
But the learning was invaluable.
He was able to take everything he learned at next, and marry it more pragmatically with the products when he returned to Apple.
Great point though – thanks for sharing.
Oct 29, 2011 @ 19:01:11
I watched the 60 minutes on Steve Jobs and it seemed like he really was a … somewhat reckless manager. Often pushing people to tears and anger.
It was said that he might have been one of the worlds words managers ever.
Interesting how he drove great product, but yet his management style was horrendous. I wonder if there is a formula in there somewhere…
Oct 29, 2011 @ 19:42:40
That’s just it Scout. I don’t think there is a formula.
There is Steve Jobs – and what works for Steve Jobs.
Then there is you – what works for you.
And me – what works for me.
I find it incredibly motivating to look at what he was able to see and do.
But then get surprised when I realize how much of his approach wouldn’t work for me.
That’s what makes it such an interesting puzzle to work through.
What made him successfully, is something I don’t think I could do.
Which is OK. It’s just taking me time to realize and reconcile.
Thanks for sharing.
Oct 29, 2011 @ 22:15:07
Right. I think I was going that direction… I mean… it’s like he was a universal anomaly. To be admired… but never emulated. … Even if you tried, you couldn’t anyway.
A great man passed. Some may love him, some may hate him. Regardless, he left his mark.
Oct 31, 2011 @ 01:30:27
Not having been there, I can’t say for sure, but I think actually parts of this story are very agile. The first is the timebox, set in stone. This, I’m guessing, forced Wozniak to DTSTTCPW and deliver value early — “fierce delivery” as I think someone familiar to these pages put it 🙂
I’m also guessing that this was done at a non-sustainable pace and not in 8 hour works days, which is anti-agile. But if I were to bend that rule, I’d rather see it bent at the start of the project, to kick things off, than at the end.
Oct 31, 2011 @ 14:52:39
Good points Chris – sustainable pace certainly went out the window on this story.