Please note: This site's design is only visible in a graphical browser that supports Web standards, but its content is accessible to any browser or Internet device. To see this site as it was designed please upgrade to a Web standards compliant browser.
 
Signal vs. Noise

Our book:
Defensive Design for the Web: How To Improve Error Messages, Help, Forms, and Other Crisis Points
Available Now ($16.99)

Most Popular (last 15 days)
Looking for old posts?
37signals Mailing List

Subscribe to our free newsletter and receive updates on 37signals' latest projects, research, announcements, and more (about one email per month).

37signals Services
Syndicate
XML version (full posts)
Get Firefox!

Steve Jobs on innovation: Gives me chills

14 Oct 2004 by Jason Fried

From a new Interview with Steve Jobs in Businessweek:

Q: How do you systematize innovation?
A: The system is that there is no system. That doesn’t mean we don’t have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that’s not what it’s about. Process makes you more efficient.
But innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem. It’s ad hoc meetings of six people called by someone who thinks he has figured out the coolest new thing ever and who wants to know what other people think of his idea.
And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.

Amen Steve! Always say no default. Make features and ideas beg to be made, beg to be included, beg to be pursued. You’ll know when they need to be.

Whenever we talk about “Say no by default” at our Building of Basecamp workshop we get strange looks. I’m glad we’re on Steve’s side on this one.

10 comments so far (Post a Comment)

14 Oct 2004 | Derek at CD Baby said...

I went to a speech Steve Jobs gave up at the Apple campus about iTunes. Very similar thing said, there, too. Great philosophy. More about that in my same-named post, here. :-)

14 Oct 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

But innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways

I forget which company did this, but I remember reading about some firm that was so cognizant of the opportunities that arose from "meeting up in hallways" that they built little nooks with comfortable chairs and tables in all the hallways of their building, so that people who met up would have a place to immediately sit down and brainstorm. I saw the same thing in the chemistry department of a university where I used to work....chairs and little cafe tables placed in convenient locations in many of the hallways. A nice touch.

14 Oct 2004 | Jim said...

Apple's revenue is up 37%.

Coincidence? I think not.

14 Oct 2004 | Derek Featherstone said...

"Say no by default" is brilliant in its impact and simplicity - whether applying to innovation and new business areas, or features in a web application like BaseCamp.

Very nice...

14 Oct 2004 | Don Schenck said...

"It would be nice if ..."

"Wouldn't it be cool if ..."

The start of something bad.

Good post, Jason.

14 Oct 2004 | Anthony Baker said...

I remember how disappointed geeks were when the iPod Mini was announced. Smaller size, yes, but smaller (not larger) hard drive and nearly the same price. "Are they crazy?!"

Jobs said in some interview that they found that people didn't necessarily _want_ a larger hard drive, and that often over 1,000 songs was too many.

And guess what? Sold tons.

As most designers will tell you, simplicity of design & features is a much more difficult thing to produce than an abundance.

(Wish Microsoft would learn this.)

14 Oct 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Well ... wasn't Microsoft Bob a good idea?

BWAHAHAHAHA ...

12 Nov 2004 | Lawyers said...

Personal Injury lawyers cases relate to injuries incurred through the negligence or irresponsible behavior of another individual organization or business. A personal injury lawyer, the injured individual may recover civil damages. If you have been injured by use of product, in a mesothelioma, car accident lawyer, as a result of your employment or through some other act of negligence, you have suffered a personal injury. We are a wrongful death lawyer service designed to help accident victims find lawyers; personal injury lawyers will review your mesothelioma lawyers, wrongful death, personal injury settlements, medical malpractice lawyers, trucking accidents, boating accidents and workplace injuries. The first question you should ask yourself is if you can handle the problem without hiring a california lawyers. If the problem can be handled without the advice of lawyers, then you can usually find the right forms online.
Alabama Lawyers
Alaska Lawyers
Arizona Lawyers
Arkansas Lawyers
California Lawyers
Colorado Lawyers
Connecticut Lawyers
Delaware Lawyers
Florida Lawyers
Georgia Lawyers
Hawaii Lawyers
Idaho Lawyers
Illinois Lawyers
Indiana Lawyers
Iowa Lawyers
Kansas Lawyers
Kentucky Lawyers
Louisiana Lawyers
Maine Lawyers
Maryland Lawyers
Massachusetts Lawyers
Michigan Lawyers
Minnesota Lawyers
Mississippi Lawyers
Missouri Lawyers
Montana Lawyers
Nebraska Lawyers
Nevada Lawyers
New Hampshire Lawyers
New Jersey Lawyers
New Mexico Lawyers
New York Lawyers
North Carolina Lawyers
North Dakota Lawyers
Ohio Lawyers
Oklahoma Lawyers
Oregon Lawyers
Pennsylvania Lawyers
Rhode Island Lawyers
South Carolina Lawyers
South Dakota Lawyers
Tennessee Lawyers
Texas Lawyers
Utah Lawyers
Vermont Lawyers
Virginia Lawyers
Washington Lawyers
Washington, D.C. Lawyers
West Virginia Lawyers
Wisconsin Lawyers
Wyoming Lawyers


















































12 Nov 2004 | Lawyers said...

Personal Injury lawyers cases relate to injuries incurred through the negligence or irresponsible behavior of another individual organization or business. A personal injury lawyer, the injured individual may recover civil damages. If you have been injured by use of product, in a mesothelioma, car accident lawyer, as a result of your employment or through some other act of negligence, you have suffered a personal injury. We are a wrongful death lawyer service designed to help accident victims find lawyers; personal injury lawyers will review your mesothelioma lawyers, wrongful death, personal injury settlements, medical malpractice lawyers, trucking accidents, boating accidents and workplace injuries. The first question you should ask yourself is if you can handle the problem without hiring a california lawyers. If the problem can be handled without the advice of lawyers, then you can usually find the right forms online.
Alabama Lawyers
Alaska Lawyers
Arizona Lawyers
Arkansas Lawyers
California Lawyers
Colorado Lawyers
Connecticut Lawyers
Delaware Lawyers
Florida Lawyers
Georgia Lawyers
Hawaii Lawyers
Idaho Lawyers
Illinois Lawyers
Indiana Lawyers
Iowa Lawyers
Kansas Lawyers
Kentucky Lawyers
Louisiana Lawyers
Maine Lawyers
Maryland Lawyers
Massachusetts Lawyers
Michigan Lawyers
Minnesota Lawyers
Mississippi Lawyers
Missouri Lawyers
Montana Lawyers
Nebraska Lawyers
Nevada Lawyers
New Hampshire Lawyers
New Jersey Lawyers
New Mexico Lawyers
New York Lawyers
North Carolina Lawyers
North Dakota Lawyers
Ohio Lawyers
Oklahoma Lawyers
Oregon Lawyers
Pennsylvania Lawyers
Rhode Island Lawyers
South Carolina Lawyers
South Dakota Lawyers
Tennessee Lawyers
Texas Lawyers
Utah Lawyers
Vermont Lawyers
Virginia Lawyers
Washington Lawyers
Washington, D.C. Lawyers
West Virginia Lawyers
Wisconsin Lawyers
Wyoming Lawyers


















































30 Jan 2005 | compatelius said...

bocigalingus must be something funny.

Comments on this post are closed

 
Back to Top ^