RIP Steve

I woke up yesterday to a text that simply said, “Steve Jobs has died”.

My first thoughts were a mixture of inevitablility of someone with serious longterm illness and also surprise at how quick that was. He only stepped down as CEO maybe a month ago… but/and then the iPhone 4S had just been announced to fairly universal dissappointment.

It’s been no secret that I’ve always had a major issue with Apple, and never been a huge fan of Steve Jobs, and whilst I have found myself owning and using Apple products on a daily basis, for both work and fun, there’s still a part of me that also resents their presence in my life.

But when someone dies, no matter how much or little people knew or admired them, we can all find reasons to remember them in a positive light, to remember the good they did, the ways they changed our lives for the better.

So here’s a few quotes from Steve Jobs that I can take away:

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice!”

It’s easy to get pulled around by what other people want from you, what they expect you to do, how they want you to work. If you have a vision (and despite those little round glasses of his, Steve Jobs was certainly not short on vision!), stick to it.

“None. It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.”

(on how much consumer research went into iPad.)

When a client comes to us saying they want a website, it’s not their job to tell us how to do ours. Our job to draw out from them what they need, to help them dream dreams, to give them the opportunity to be excited. Stay one step ahead, anticipate how a product / service / website will be used and always make it better.

“We don’t ship junk”

That’s a simple commitment to quality. Don’t sell yourself short - be critical of your own work. Make it better. I often need to look back at something and say to myself, “which one thing would I change, improve”. There’s normally more than one thing. Great products require hard work.

RIP Steve.