Suzanne LaBarre for Fast Company:
Never surprise Steve Jobs. Bob Baxley learned this lesson quickly in his former role as director of design for the Apple Online Store. Baxley ran design reviews at the tech giant—made the most profitable company in the world by its design-obsessed cofounder and CEO—and he shared his insights recently on the Design Better Podcast.
Baxley recalls it as a very intense process: “People had to show their work every 48 hours basically. I came to describe the process as a little bit like Saturday Night Live, where Monday we sort of threw around some ideas as to what we might think we’d have for the week. On Tuesday we sort of had like the initial run through the sketches. On Thursday we had a dress rehearsal, and on Friday was the show with the executive team.”
Despite its intensity, Baxley says that it lowered the pressure because “. . . every Friday, there was a new show. And so if we bombed on Friday or one of the sketches didn’t go well, it’s okay ’cause we’re back next week.”
MacDailyNews Take: When you have to show your work frequently and regularly, you can get help along the way while never getting lost on the way to the goal.