Creative Selection

Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs

By: Ken Kocienda

Narrated by: Ken Kocienda

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.

©2018 Ken Kocienda (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Kocienda reveals the real secret of Steve Jobs's leadership and Apple's magic: the ability to push people to think for themselves, and to empower them to turn their best thinking into reality. It is a story about the intersection of technology and humanity." (Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor)

“If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to work in a hotbed of innovation, you’ll enjoy this inside view of life at Apple. Ken Kocienda pioneered the iPhone keyboard, and this book gives a play-by-play of their creative process - from generating ideas to doing a demo for Steve Jobs.” (Adam Grant, New York Times best-selling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B [with Sheryl Sandberg])

detailed stories

The book has details, personal thoughts. Very hands on. Initially I was surprised that multi layer keyboard with dictionary was not killed immediately, but the struggle turned out to be useful later on.

Great Story

Excellent stories about how the Steve Jobs era Apple Software Teams worked and how we can benefit from Creative Selection! Well performed and frankly A joy for listening.

Worthwhile

Was great on the whole. would have liked a bit more analysis of some key aspects but definitely compelling and interesting on a number of vectors.

Fun and a bit nerdy

Nothing here you need to know unless you are either a die hard apple fan or a coder. That said, it was thoroughly enjoyable, and I came into it a skeptic... I was assuming it was another money grab from someone who was at Apple during the Jobs era

Very Inspiring

What a great insight to how a visionary inspired normal people to do great things.

A great insight on how to create great software

As a software engineer inspired by beautiful creations, this book renewed my inspiration and filled me with new ideas for how to create great things

Good book for Apple fans

I enjoy listening to books about how Apple approaches products and services and inside details about their culture. If you’re an Apple fan, you should like this book. #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

Learned a lot

Amazing amount of practical examples of good product development, loved the highly specific software development stories.

Fantastic voice

Enjoyed listening to the anecdotes of the narrator who helped build the original iPhone keyboard software through a process of iteration with the Apple team.

Very inspiring

This book really helped me with designing some products! The bit about taste really hit me