Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs
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Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Ken Kocienda (Author, Narrator), Macmillan Audio (Publisher)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,402 ratings
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An insider's account of Apple's creative process during the golden years of Steve Jobs.

Hundreds of millions of people use Apple products every day; several thousand work on Apple's campus in Cupertino, California; but only a handful sit at the drawing board.

Creative Selection recounts the life of one of the few who worked behind the scenes, a highly respected software engineer who worked in the final years of the Steve Jobs era - the Golden Age of Apple. Ken Kocienda offers an inside look at Apple’s creative process. For 15 years, he was on the ground floor of the company as a specialist, directly responsible for experimenting with novel user interface concepts and writing powerful, easy-to-use software for products including the iPhone, the iPad, and the Safari web browser. His stories explain the symbiotic relationship between software and product development for those who have never dreamed of programming a computer and reveal what it was like to work on the cutting edge of technology at one of the world's most admired companies.

Kocienda shares moments of struggle and success, crisis and collaboration, illuminating each with lessons learned over his Apple career. He introduces the essential elements of innovation - inspiration, collaboration, craft, diligence, decisiveness, taste, and empathy - and uses these as a lens through which to understand productive work culture. An insider's tale of creativity and innovation at Apple, Creative Selection shows listeners how a small group of people developed an evolutionary design model and how they used this methodology to make groundbreaking and intuitive software that countless millions use every day.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

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  1. Listening Length
    7 hours and 28 minutes
  2. Author
    Ken Kocienda
  3. Narrator
    Ken Kocienda
  4. Audible release date
    September 4, 2018
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Macmillan Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07D435DFQ
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 7 hours and 28 minutes
Author Ken Kocienda
Narrator Ken Kocienda
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date September 04, 2018
Publisher Macmillan Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07D435DFQ
Best Sellers Rank #52,312 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#39 in History of Computers & Technology
#114 in Biographies of Science & Technology Leaders
#202 in Biographies of Business Leaders

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
1,402 global ratings
A sneak peak behind the scenes at Apple
5 Stars
A sneak peak behind the scenes at Apple
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone In 2007 he commented he had waited 2 years for that day to arrive. He was quite proud of the Apple iPhone and said the iPhone would change the world. How right he was. If you will recall, before the introduction of iPhone cell phones had plastic keypads that were hard to use. The iPhone revolutionized the way we interact with the phone by replacing plastic keys with pixels. The multi-touch keypad was born and there was no looking back. Today, almost all cell phones use this technology.In “Creative Selection” Ken Kocienda takes us behind the scenes at Apple to see exactly how the iPhone was developed and the keyboard in particular. That is because creating the keyboard for the new iPhone was his primary responsibility. He provides an insider view of what went on inside Apple’s secretive environment during the development stages of the iPhone and how decisions were painstakingly made on all iPhones features. It is quite an interesting journey and I found the book to be a page turner. It made me appreciate my iPhones even more. Bottom line, I love the book. It is for anyone who loves technology and wonders how the amazing products we use today come into existence. It is highly recommended and I give it 5 stars.
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Top reviews from the United States

Brian Dunn
5.0 out of 5 stars Creative Selection – Apple’s Design Process for Creating Magical Products
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2019
Verified Purchase
Creative Selection, Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs, by Ken Kocienda is well written and a thoroughly enjoyable read regarding Apple’s constant reiterative demo process, where Apple creates concrete and specific demos so peers can make judgements/comments/criticisms/improvements based off actual ‘physical’ samples. Substantial work is put into each demo, similar to the way ideas are pitched at Amazon in detailed memo form, rather than simple power point presentations. Unlike Amazon memos that are polished, complete plans, Apple demos are down and dirty focusing on the specific area/item being demoed, with the background staged (potentially a Hollywood-type façade) to engross to the viewer into experiencing the demo portion as if the viewer is using the complete product. The comprehensive due diligence/research involved in creating the demo (or memo for Amazon), helps to continually refine the idea.

Concrete, specific demos allow peers to discuss the item being created in explicit detail, and offer distinct criticisms and suggestions. Ken Kocienda presents an interesting illustration of the importance of having a specific ‘physical’ item to discuss and critique. He uses puppies as an example. Think of a cute puppy in your mind and imagine as many details about your puppy as you can. I’ll think of one as well, I bet my puppy is cuter than yours. Under this scenario, we both have imagined cute puppies, but there is no way to distinguish which one is cuter. We can argue as we each describe our puppy, but we cannot resolve which is cuter without concrete and specific examples. However, if we have physical pictures of each puppy, we can easily discuss their actual merits. This example is relatively silly, but it demonstrates the importance of concrete examples. Without them the theoretical argument is virtually impossible, with them the discussion is efficient and relatively simple.

The production of the demos at Apple forces the creator to get a true understanding of the underlying issues with his creation. The comments/criticisms received from peers utilizing the physical demo (rather than discussing theoretical images) are integrated into the following demo version. Each demo, building on all prior work. The best ideas survive, while the weaker ideas go extinct. From these constant, reiterative improvements, magical, one-of a kind generational products have been created.
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BookFan
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but a little self-absorbed
Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2018
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Creative is a well-written book and affords interesting insights relative to software development for Apple, at least for us who are clueless about this process. It is pretty highly focused on how specific pieces of software were conceived and perfected, and reveals little about how strategic decisions were made at Apple, nor hardware design (Jony Ive, for example, was never mentioned). For those looking for a discussion of those sots of topics, there are far better books. other books that do a better job.
I say self-absorbed in the title as the author pedantically and strongly made the point that design has to do with how something works-good design at Apple was design that the user found intuitive, easy, and efficient to use. True enough, but more broadly considered, especially as design is applied to physical objects such as toasters and cars, good design is also related to how something looks-- two objects may function, and interface with the user identically, but the more esthetically pleasing object is the better object. You get the sense that the author is trying to generalize the nature of good design more broadly than is warranted from the perspective of software development. Also, many words are devoted to the design-build-test-improve iterative scheme as though that is something new or unique to Apple. But mechanical (and other types of) engineers have been doing that for literally thousands of years.
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reed
5.0 out of 5 stars Great history book. Good takeaways
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2022
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I enjoyed this book since it goes into Apple's history, but I think the author is reading way too much into the process. I don't think that this "creative selection" process is actually what made Apple products great. Apple was successful because Steve Jobs and Scott Forstall knew how to lead.

Giving demos (aka "Creative Selection") seems like a simple trust building exercise. It could have been any number of things, I assume it just so happened to fit Steve's management style (after all he started off by giving demos at computer expos) so that's what he decided to do since that's what he knew best. I don't think you need to read into it more than that. Like, sure, it's a great way to give/receive feedback, demos are quite fun. But it also could have been like, I dunno, something else too. And that probably would have been fine as well.
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Herve Gbedji
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for developers, technology managers, startup founders
Reviewed in Canada on August 29, 2021
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In the book you learn way more than the history of some of Apple's defining products. You learn about why listening to employees matter, why self control and empathy are a leader's best friend. You also learn about the endless payoffs of being practical at every level of the organization. It's simply well written Ken
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Ignacio Carretero Molero
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirador y revelador
Reviewed in Spain on March 9, 2023
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A veces profundiza en exceso en temas técnicos, pero en general aporta mucha información interesante y reveladora sobre cómo trabajaba el Apple de Steve Jobs y el proceso para crear grandes productos. Muy inspirador.
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Natarajan Mahalingam
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read on the Apple design & product development approach!
Reviewed in India on June 26, 2021
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As I continued reading towards the end of the book, my iPhone's screen brightened and chimed a message - that was such a nostalgic moment as I saw Ken Kocienda and the Purple (the iPhone's project name) team in their lab working out the kinks on the software! The hard & smart work that had gone into the making of one of the most iconic technological products ever hit me hard - what we take for granted today with smartphones had an evolutionary history that Creative Selection details so well on many aspects

Ken's writing evokes shades of highly technical, philosophical, and deeply spiritual reverence to the Design methodology at Apple under Steve Jobs. If you're interested to learn how Apple produced such stellar products like Safari web browser, iPhone & iPad, etc., then look no further than Ken's book. A first person account of the entire product and project journey interspersed with Ken's vulnerable and humble writing style bring it all out in glory

Written primarily for the product development and programming crowd, there are certain chapters or sections that are highly technical, but for non-technical background readers, it's still easily digestible. In fact, some of us might even take a liking to understand more about the technical aspects of our browsing experience after reading this book (I did a little! :-))

Overall, if you would like to know more about that smartphone you hold in your hand, the autocorrection feature you use so frequently day-in and day-out or simply marvel at the glass screen into which you type and the characters stare back at you - then, this is THE book to grab and read. I promise, you'll enjoy every bit of this book as I did!
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Victor
3.0 out of 5 stars Um bom livro
Reviewed in Brazil on July 1, 2020
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Esse é um bom livro para quem busca a visão de dentro da apple, a visão de como as tomadas de decisão e reuniões semanais acontece. É contata sobre a perspectiva de um funcionário que compartilha a paixão pelos valores e produtos da empresa.

Uma boa leitura
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Karan Navani
5.0 out of 5 stars An insightful dive into product development at Apple
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2020
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I really enjoyed this book as someone who works in software development and is trying to build products that users love. Ken’s accounts of Apple’s principles and the creative selection process is not just fascinating to read about, but can also be applied to your own work. I also geeked out over the iterative journey to decide the iPhone autocorrect algorithm or to decide what the size of an icon should be.

This book is a window into how Apple built and continues to build incredible products that seamlessly mould into people’s lives. I highly recommend it for anyone who is curious about Apple or about developing products for people to use.
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