There have been enumerable memorials, recollections and great stories about Steve Job’s since he passed away. Some of these have bordered on hero worship and some have been a bit disdainful. Two which, to me, sum up what he did so well tie to three themes, two of which were often shared among the reflections.
– His innovation wasn’t so much in introducing something no one has done before, it was in bringing it all together so well: design, manufacturing,
cost, supply chain, marketing, financing and distribution. Sony cared about design, Dell did an amazing job with the supply chain and compaq (in the early years) out engineered and manufactured everyone. No one brought it together like Jobs (over time).
– His famous attention for detail. He was passionate and cared about it all.
– The one comment that, to me, was the most telling and possibly the least recognized, was his ability to push early even though not all that he might desire was in place. Art Wittmann at InformationWeek put it:
“Financier Bernard Baruch said, “I made my
money by selling too soon.” It could be said
that Steve Jobs made his by bringing technology
to market a bit too soon. The original
Mac was underpowered and lacked a
hard drive. The original iPhone wasn’t much
good at making phone calls. And yet each
sparked imagination and showed us where
technology should go. Jobs got Apple engi –
neers to combine technologies in new ways
just a little before they thought it could be
done well.
Jobs wasn’t patient. He knew what he
wanted, and he wanted it done now. For the
impatient he left behind, we lost a patron
saint.“