Overview

From 2001 to 2017 Ken Kocienda was a software engineer and designer at Apple. In Creative Selection he gives his personal account of what it was like to work at Apple during the last few years of the Steve Jobs era-from demo-ing products for Steve Jobs, to helping create software for products like the iPhone, the iPad, and WebKit, the most popular software in the world for browsing the web. Throughout, Kocienda shares the principles he and his colleagues used at Apple to do their best, most innovative work and to make great products, including the demo-driven iterative creative selection method used for turning ideas into finished work. The book is an inside look at how a group of software engineers and designers made world-changing products the Apple way. Creative Selection is about making great products and Ken's experiences trying to make them. During his fifteen years at Apple, the effort to make great products was all he thought about and cared about. Software was his piece in the product puzzle. He developed user interface concepts and prototypes which made the most of new hardware features, he wrote heaps of computer code to make it all go, and he worked with other programmers and designers to create bug-free software which shipped on schedule, as they all tried to make products which would surprise and delight the people who were eagerly waiting the unveiling of the next great thing. Apple was the perfect company for Ken, and his timing was great. He got in on the ground floor of some cool projects, including: the iPhone, the iPad, the Safari web browser, and more. The book is a collection of Ken's stories and thoughts about how they made these products-the light bulbs clicking on over people's heads, the long struggles to solve seemingly insoluble problems, the pleas for help, the brilliant people, the moments of confusion, the demo reviews, the methodical work, the never-ending demands to do better, and finally, the success of making products which people everywhere use every day to express themselves through words and pictures, communicate with their loved ones, and interact with the world.

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9781529004717

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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, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Radical Candor</i> I’ve literally been waiting a decade for this book. Ken Kocienda takes you inside Apple in way only a true insider, a veteran software developer, could. Creative Selection is the answer to the prayer uttered by anyone who wants to truly understand how Apple works. I couldn’t put it down. -- Adam Lashinsky, author of the 2012 bestseller,<i> Inside Apple</i> 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,<i> New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Originals</i>, <i>Give and Take</i>, and <i>Option B</i> with Sheryl Sandberg Ken Kocienda played pivotal roles in the creation of both Safari and the original iPhone. One of the hardest problems – and biggest risks – of the first iPhone was the development of a multitouch keyboard. I placed this formidable responsibility squarely in Ken’s hands, and the success of the keyboard emerged from his insights, collaboration and dogged pursuit of excellence. He now offers readers, in his own words, a window into his experiences and insights from the trenches. -- Scott Forstall, Original iPhone Software Team Leader and SVP iOS, Apple

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, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Radical Candor</i> I've literally been waiting a decade for this book. Ken Kocienda takes you inside Apple in way only a true insider, a veteran software developer, could. Creative Selection is the answer to the prayer uttered by anyone who wants to truly understand how Apple works. I couldn't put it down. -- Adam Lashinsky, author of the 2012 bestseller,<i> Inside Apple</i> 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,<i> New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Originals</i>, <i>Give and Take</i>, and <i>Option B</i> with Sheryl Sandberg Ken Kocienda played pivotal roles in the creation of both Safari and the original iPhone. One of the hardest problems - and biggest risks - of the first iPhone was the development of a multitouch keyboard. I placed this formidable responsibility squarely in Ken's hands, and the success of the keyboard emerged from his insights, collaboration and dogged pursuit of excellence. He now offers readers, in his own words, a window into his experiences and insights from the trenches. -- Scott Forstall, Original iPhone Software Team Leader and SVP iOS, Apple

Ken Kocienda played pivotal roles in the creation of both Safari and the original iPhone. One of the hardest problems-and biggest risks-of the first iPhone was the development of a multitouch keyboard. I placed this formidable responsibility squarely in Ken's hands, and the success of the keyboard emerged from his insights, collaboration, and dogged pursuit of excellence. He now offers readers, in his own words, a window into his experiences and insights from the trenches. -- Scott Forstall, Original iPhone Software Team Leader and SVP iOS, Apple 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,<i> New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Originals</i>, <i>Give and Take</i>, and <i>Option B</i> with Sheryl Sandberg I've literally been waiting a decade for this book. Ken Kocienda takes you inside Apple in way only a true insider, a veteran software developer, could. Creative Selection is the answer to the prayer uttered by anyone who wants to truly understand how Apple works. I couldn't put it down. -- Adam Lashinsky, author of the 2012 bestseller,<i> Inside Apple</i> 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, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Radical Candor</i>

Author Information

Ken Kocienda was a software engineer and designer at Apple for over fifteen years. After graduating from Yale, he fixed motorcycles, worked in the editorial library of a newspaper, taught English in Japan, and made fine art photographs. Eventually, he discovered the internet, taught himself computer programming, and made his way through a succession of dot-com-era startups, before landing at Apple in 2001, where he worked on the software teams that created the Safari web browser, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Ken lives in San Jose, California with his wife.

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