Insanely simple
The obsession that drives apples success
Short summary
Learn the art of simplicity, and how to implement it as a business leader and an employee (or in life in general), many examples will be given from the working days at Apple with the master of simplicity Steve Jobs as the leader.
Intro
Insanely simple – the obsession that drives Apple’s success written in 2012 by Ken Segall, the man who named iMac, and worked closely with Steve Jobs for many years.
Simplicity is the core value for Apple and has been so since the company started, for Steve Jobs it was a religion.
Apple’s focus on simplicity is unique. It has become an obsession, and it is burnt deep down in their DNA, it will show in the company’s products, its ads, internal organization, stores. For Apple, simplicity is a goal and a work style.
The book will take us through ten elements of Simplicity that have driven Apple’s success and will give a lot of examples in the everyday work life in Apple, and how Steve Jobs enforced simplicity.
Further, we will get to know simplicity big bad brother: complexity and how it can destroy both creativity and profit with its impact.
Don’t misunderstand simplicity with ease, it’s often the opposite, the easiest way is to make things more complicated than it has to be. Simplicity requires awareness, reflection, and constant attention, or it will be forgotten and complexity will take over. In the long run, the rewards for incorporating the art of simplicity are huge, just look at Apple’s profit! And compare it to other companies in the same industry.
Simple stick
“Simple stick” is Steve Jobs and Apple’s best weapon against complexity. When a task, the solution to a problem or a product became too complicated, or more complicated than it needed to be, Mr..Jobs was quick to use the “simple stick” to beat the complexity out of it, and make it simple, oh poor Lorrie!!
Everyone should carry around a “simple stick” and use it diligently. For example, it can be used when your report suddenly becomes 2000 pages of unreadable massive block of unorganized information, hit the report with the “simple stick”. How can you present the data in a simple and clean way, so the person reading it will obtain the important and necessary information easy and fast. Or your construction drawing that’s become so unreadable and with so much information, that’s basically only you that can understand it, hit it with the ” simple stick”.
It’s a lot more fun to wield the simple stick than it is to get whacked by it. By embracing the values of simplicity, you will be the one who promotes change, keeps colleagues on course, and proves your value to the company day by day.
Think small and minimal
Take a look at Apple’s computers, the design is clean and minimal, the name is easy to remember, the product is easy to use and you don’t get confused with a bunch of different choices when buying a Mac. Compare it to another computer manufacture, where often, the design is messy, the name is long and complicated, and its like 100 different computers to choose from.
It’s hard to streamline the complicated process of creating a computer, it’s easy to put layer upon layer of people that need to have an opinion on the different components of what a PC should contain, and set up a meeting after meeting to discuss everything. Apple have clarity in their organization! They have a flat hierarchy, with zero focus groups, fewer meetings, and few layers, and the product comes out clean and minimal.
The more layers you add to a process, the more watered down the final work will become.
Think Brutal
Have you ever read an E-mail, and just thought what the fuck is the question here?!? A good place to start to implement simplicity is in the E-mail department, so many E-mails is just a muddy mess, with a lot of complicated words, and little content. Be brutally honest and straightforward with your E-mails, and try to demand it from coworkers too. The time spent sorting through the inbox would decrease substantially.
Conclusion
Just keep it simple! Incorporate simplicity in your life, and always keep a “simple stick” in your pocket, ready to hit something or someone.