Turning Vision into Reality

The Morning I Spent with Steve Jobs

The Morning I Spent with Steve Jobs

From the writings of John Myrna

My wife Mary had a new iPhone. Watching her use and embrace this product reminded me of the time I spent a morning with Steve Jobs.

In the late seventies, my group was creating a major software system for Apple’s next-generation computer. I was in Cupertino with my Project Manager for an early morning meeting to finalize the contract with Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs. We were ushered into his office late in the morning and Steve gave us 100% of his attention. 

He was mesmerizing and every bit a sales showman as Ron Popeil or Billy Mays. He shared his vision for the personal computer as well as his technical philosophy.

He was excited about integrating audio technology so you could even use his new machine as your telephone.

Bandying about a light pen, a personal input device that pre-dated the mouse, he rhapsodized how for less than two dollars he could include one with every machine. “If you make a component an option, then application developers won’t incorporate it.” He didn’t believe in having optional functionality.

“An Apple computer on every desk.” He saw the personal computer ultimately as ubiquitous as the telephone. And he emphasized that telephones don’t have slots, don’t have options, and are extraordinarily easy to use. If he could have his way, his computers would have every feature standard and be easy to use.

Steve remained true to his vision over the years, although for many years his vision was too far ahead of the available technology. Products he had direct control over were crippled by their lack of expandability. By the 21st century, however, the technology had finally caught up with his vision.

With the iPhone, introduced in 2007, everyone could enjoy the full flowering of a vision that took shape nearly thirty years earlier. An Apple computer not on every desk, but in every pocket.

What is your company’s vision? What do you and your team visualize the company will look like in five years? In ten? In twenty? The best way to do this is through a well-structured strategic planning process, including effective implementation.

p.s. Before I left Steve’s office I asked what he would do if our software was the main reason people ended up buying his new computer. His answer? “I’ll buy your company.” I laughed since we were twice as big as Apple. By the next year Apple was bigger than us and within a couple of years an order of magnitude bigger. Apple clearly had a vision of where it was going and the leadership and implementation to get there.

Related Articles

Are You Sure It Ain't Broken?

John Myrna

My father could do anything around the house, plumbing, framing, electrical, you name it. He had his tool bench organized with each screwdriver and hammer in its place. He used the same tools for as long as I could remember. Screwdrivers worn down to the nub, chipped hammers, dull utility knives. He knew the feel of the handles, knew each tool's weakness and could accomplish amazing things with these worn tools. 

Read More
A Startup Needs to Look Like a Startup.

From the writings of John Myrna

I joined Scientific Time Sharing Corporation (STSC) in December 1969 as a programming elf. I was in the Army, stationed in Northern Virginia, with excess time on my hands. In grad school I had adapted a prototype Fortran implementation of the programming language APL to run on the college’s new SDS Sigma 7 mainframe computer system. I fell in love with the language, so it was only natural to see if I could moonlight for one of the three startups that were commercializing the IBM version of the APL timesharing system. In school, my graduate advisor and fellow grad students were convinced that APL was the greatest invention since sliced bread but… “It’s a shame that it will never make it as a commercial success.” (The APL language was known for its extensive use of Greek and mathematical symbols, a major departure from “English-like” languages like Fortran and Basic.) 

Read More
Productivity Gains Can Come from Small, Simple Changes

From the writings of John Myrna

When Scientific Time Sharing Corporation was founded in 1969, it had a problem. It had nine locations and only six full-time employees. How could they communicate and coordinate when there were seldom more than two or three people in the same location or place? The obvious answer was email. The first primitive version went live in January 1970, followed by a fully functioned system built on our ground-breaking APL*Plus shared file system. That email system, written by Larry Breed, became STSC’s central communications technology. 

Read More