My memories of Steve Jobs. Part 1: when Steve says - do not chew and not to wrangle

Great article, the memory of Don Melton, known primarily as "the guy who created the Safari and WebKit in Apple», was published in The Loop Magazine in February of this year. Editor greatly cut it, so Melton decided to publish the article in its original form these days. Now you can learn all interesting details of Melton memories. So why, when Jobs was better not to chew and silent if it "suffered"?

"I'm not going to watch a new movie about Steve Jobs. Similarly, I'm not going to read a biography of him written by Walter Isaacson.

And not because it seems to me that these creatures is not quite worthy of his memory.

It's just that I still have my memories of a person. And I very jealously guarded them. I do not want those, and so few and fleeting memories iskorozhilis and messed up because of the points of view of other people.

You can regard these words as a fair warning, because I want to tell you some of their own stories about Steve. I do this not only for you but also for themselves. Maybe I'll remember it better in the process.

Let me just say that I know Steve is not very close, but I had the opportunity to be with him on occasion - mostly in discussions of applications, for which I was responsible. We met, of course, on other occasions, but I've never been to his house and rarely spent time with them outside of work.

I definitely was not someone close. Surely he himself always called me «Safari Guy». But this is a good thing, since Steve Jobs could think of a lot worse things.

Of course, Steve could remember my real name either. Anyone at Apple or Pixar's - these large organizations - will tell you that if Steve knows your name, it's an honor. But also a huge responsibility. That was the deal.

I had the privilege of working at Apple during the company's revival. I am grateful to Scott Forstall for it. For that he hired me. And meet Steve.

But the first time I met Steve Jobs (or rather, I saw him in the face), not Apple. It was a meeting of developers about bringing to market original NeXT computer and its software, NeXTSTEP - the future of Mac OS X. This conference lasted all day - I forget exactly where - in 1988.

Steve had to turn to us for lunch. When the noon meeting ended, I remember being very hungry and wanted to quickly find a quiet place in the weird dining room to eat. I sat down at a remote table. It turns out that he was near the place where the e in the near future should be to put the chair, behind which will be the distinguished speaker.

Steve came out of a side door, and then went up to the podium. Close enough that I could stand up, walk two steps and to shake his hand. No, I did not do it - I'm not that stupid.

He wore a suit. It seems that he often put it in those days, before moving on to the jeans. Very professional looking. Even too serious. Corresponding to its energy in the behavior and attitudes. Obviously, Steve wanted to tell all of us something very important.

And we're still eating... It was a thankless noise: the rustle of paper sandwich, clinking forks, sound, drinking through a straw, the gnashing of teeth.

Obviously, he wanted us to have calmed down. It can be understood from his behavior: he paused several times to ensure that we calmed down. And out of respect and reverence, probably some fear, we tried our best to keep quiet. But damn it, the hall was packed to capacity, and the mere ingestion of food has created a lot of noise. Sitting so close, I felt especially embarrassed.

What idiot had planned his appearance at this time? Cretin. Surely this man then taken away and shot.

Whatever it was, I remember the seriousness and obvious impatience Steve that day. But he did not say anything.

Once I started working at Apple in June 2001, I saw Steve at several events on campus, business meetings, walking between the buildings and the like. It was also possible to see Steve sometimes in the company cafeteria, Caffe Macs. He ate there just like everyone else. Often he sat there with John Ayvom.

I'm not sure this incident occurred just before or after the original Apple announced the iPod, but it was beautiful autumn day in Cupertino, and I ate dinner with Ken Kochenda and Richard Williamson, the first two of my engineers Safari team.

We sat at a table next to one of the double doors in Caffè Macs. I do not remember exactly what we talked about. If we ever discussed the "Project" - as we sometimes called him out of the office - there is always a calm tone and totally incomprehensible to others language as Safari held in a huge secret, known only elected.

Anyway, while we're all munching sandwiches and salads, Ken saw the familiar face of a man who was looking for a free table at the other end of the long patio. It was Bud Tribble.

Among many other achievements Bad was known due to the fact that led the team dealing with the original software for the Macintosh, and was co-founder in the NeXT, where Richard worked years earlier. Bad also hired me in the now defunct Eazel, where Ken and I worked before he left Apple. Bad, really helped me to have an interview with Scott Forstall at Apple.

So all three of them knew him well.

Bad finally sat down with someone else who was standing with his back to us in six or seven tables from us. Ken said something like: "Hey, this is bad! Have you seen him? What is he doing here? "

Ken and I have not seen Bud for several months, so that they began to speculate about the reason for his visit. Tired of the hypotheses, I finally just got up, he folded his horn and shouted at him: "Hey, Bud! Come here, see old friends when you're done talking with this guy "- Bud looked back - a slight pause - and" that guy "also turned to look at me.

It was Steve Jobs. Of course.

I will forever remember his look - a little tight curve and half-smile, brow frowns, and it all seems to be saying: "I do not know who you are, but I will not forget this."

I swallowed.

When I sat down again, then at least do not get smart, "All right, I'm fired" before my two engineers. Although this is exactly what I thought.

As soon as Steve turned away, Ken and Richard said it was pretty funny. But as he looked, it seems to me that they, too, held their breath.

Spoiler: I was not fired.

After nine or ten months of work on the Safari project Scott Forstall said that we should start osudit its capabilities, user interface and a variety of behaviors with Steve. It was late in the spring of 2002.

By this time, Safari has been a real application, with which you can really browse the web. But that was not called Safari. So they shall call his December of the same year.

Scott briefly told me what to expect, and most importantly, how to behave during my first meeting with Steve. And it was clear that if the first contact with Steve will not pass smoothly, the second I do not shine.

So I listened very carefully, and Scott has adopted all his great tips. Looking back, they all look obvious. At the very least, the general principles. But there were a few things that would never come to mind at the time.

Let me be clear. Steve was not some horrible ogre or tyrant. He was just a very, very busy. He did not have time to agree to all the people, to those who scare easily, or those who had no idea what he does or says.

In this sense it is no different from any other manager. Steve was expecting perfection. That is why he so often gets it.

He knew when it was right, but he does not always say what he wanted, when something went wrong. And it has always been very clear that it is not like something. Some incorrectly perceive this behavior as overly kritikantskoe, but it was really for the sake of clarity and to save time, although in some places and unpleasant.

Work on the design was endless with Steve. Several sessions might leave out, to complete the cycle. So it was necessary to have patience.

And when Steve asked you a question? You could not roam around it, inventing an answer. If you do not know the answer, just say you do not know. But when the answer is, it must be said.

When you explain some version of Steve, we had to control myself. If Steve said, "Stop", you fucking have to stop! Handles fold and wait. And God forbid you podvinesh you mouse cursor, when he looks at the screen. Certain death.

If he continued to speak further for you, you'd better not to interrupt him.

And if your software does not work properly, you do not make excuses. You only damn sure the person represent that specific scenario will not be repeated. Never.

First of all, it was necessary to remain calm. Because it was so easy. Oh yeah.

Another thing that Scott warned me: Steve can test me. This means that it can put pressure on me a little bit to see my reaction.

I really do not remember much about that first meeting with Steve. Forgive. Probably, there was nothing, because of what it cost to get nervous. But I was invited to the second. So I must not so screwed up. Without a doubt, because it is not so much really happened.

On one of these follow-up meetings - perhaps the second - Steve put me with one blow. Very straightforward matter. In fact, I think it was the first thing he asked me to do.

We viewed tabs in the user interface has not released Safari. At that time, all the bookmarks are stored in a single, separate setup for modeless window. It looked shabby, but it was convenient.

And Steve did not like. Probably because he did not want to complicate switching between windows. We started to look like in other browsers on the Mac it is implemented. These solutions it is also not relished.

Therefore, he appealed directly to me, leaned forward with his burns eyes and asked, "What would you do?"

Given that what we saw, I did - or rather, technically made my engineers - I froze. Everything else in the world seemed to have faded in the mist around Steve's face, and for a moment I could not think. But I did not panic. Or berated himself.

After a pause, I said, "I really like the way the tabs are arranged in Internet Explorer on the Windows: tabs in the same window, and web content. I just do not like the fact that they are located in the sidebar. There must be a better solution than a sidebar, but I yet do not know him. "

And instead of being annoyed at my pathetic response, Steve said, "Show me what it looks like."

Of course, he again put me in a difficult position, because we did not have any devices running Windows at hand. And this was not surprising. But I found a solution: online screenshot of Safari. Accepted!

Since then I got to the big leagues.

One big and bold plus working with Steve is that there exists a few who will be able to intimidate me. Here's a bonus.

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On the other bonuses and challenges Read in the second part of the memories. :)

part 3