Why (not how) things work

Why (not how) things work

I\’ve always been a bit of a refusenik when it comes to Apple products.

Someone once said, when told that Windows can run on Apple hardware: \”Great ! The reliability of Windows with the value-for-money of Apple !\”. That pretty much summed up my thoughts on the subject, too.

Until recently, that is.

You see, I now have an iPhone. And I\’m not ashamed to say that I love it. Why ? Because it just works. It just does all the things I want it to, and integrates seemlessly with my life right now.

So, why am I writing this, telling you about something you already know / don\’t much care for* ?    *delete as appropriate

Because it\’s GREAT design. I\’m not a fanboi of anything much, but what I do like is when some serious thought has gone into a design, and the design principles are adhered to every step of the way, from conception to delivery and beyond. It appeals to some innate sense of uniformity, some desire for consistancy, and an appreciation of elegant solutions to complex issues.

Douglas Adams once wrote (and I\’m not sure that it\’s true) that Sir Isaac Newton\’s greatest invention was the cat-flap – a door within a door. \”It takes a special kind of genius to render the previously non-existant blindingly obvious.\” And it\’s that attribute that all great design has – the \”why didn\’t we think of that before\” factor.

The point I\’m trying (probably unsucessfully) to make is that phones / toasters / cars / databases / whatever can be great things. All they need is some serious thought as to how they\’re going to work, and someone with the will strong enough to enforce a non-deviation policy from the design principles.

So, next time you get asked for your opinion on how to do something, do your utmost to make it the best it can be from the start. Don\’t compromise your principles (even if that may make you unpopular) – it\’s better to do the right thing first time than spend months patching and propping up a poorly designed solution. People may not explicitly thank you for your trouble, but that\’s better than having to explain why serious production issues were not designed-out of the finished product in the first place.

Back soon…