If Apples Could Talk
Apple is famous for keeping its design process a secret. Interaction Designers regularly speculate about what goes on in Cupertino. It is remarkable, then, that Michael Lopp, a senior engineering manager at Apple, was able to talk about it at SXSW.
There aren’t a lot of details, but several items of interest were mentioned. They create pixel-perfect prototypes, which isn’t too surprising. I prefer to do this myself, as it requires a fully thought-out design and provides a solid point of reference for the developer and the customer.
They start with ten different concepts for each design problem. I would be happy if I had the time to develop three on a regular basis.
“Later they whittle that number to three, spend more months on those three and then finally end up with one strong decision.”
You see that? They “spend more months”. Not hours. Not days. Months! This is not Agile! This is a serious commitment to building the right thing. It shows in their products.
Read Businessweek’s report for more.