In order to turn a product-based company around, we need to first explore why we need products to begin with? Do we need technology at all? Perhaps we should just abandon it all and go back to the quiet cottage on the countryside heartfulness meditation prayer.
The short answer is that products are tools, much like a hammer or screwdriver. Whether we use tools to build a house, or a computer to type this article, they make it easier for us to complete tasks. But products also have the potential to help us do more.
People got tired of lifting something up with their own might, so they invented pulleys and counterweights. Circular wheels worked better than the square ones; and plows allowed farmers to do more in less time. But for all the benefits that products provide, they also run the risk of desensitizing us to our own talents and abilities. Someone who is an expert doesn't need tools. For example a teacher in a classroom, if he or she is an expert, doesn't need to rely on lesson plans. This expert teacher knows how and what to teach already. This is the same with every occupation. If someone is seeking tools, maybe they are like the teacher that prefer relying on ready-made materials?
The point is that tools and products have a place. But if the user is relying on them, this could very well be a sign that they are not an expert yet. For example: a not-so-great musician makes use of all sort of digital tricks during the editing stage. If someone finds themselves always looking for tools, they should probably look for another occupation in which they can excel.
A World Before Tools
What was it like in a world before tools? On the surface, it would seem excruciatingly difficult to complete any manual task. But it could very well be that people were more natural experts in their field. The medical profession is a good example of this. Today western medicine relies heavily on scans, x-rays, blood tests, etc... to determine how to treat the patient. The fact that doctors have these tools at their disposal leads to them becoming reliant on them. What then happens if you have a very good doctor, with years of experience, that intuitively knows that this condition is a sign of this ailment? His colleagues will likely still tell him to corroborate his expert "sense" with purely empirical findings. As one can imagine, this expert doctor will gradually learn to let the machines and tests become the deciding voice. One risk of the proliferation of technology then is the dulling of the senses. The reliance on the machines to think and do the work for us.
This essay is not to encourage the abandonment of tools, but instead to reposition them as they were intended. They are tools but not crutches. Objects that can make tasks easier to accomplish, but not a replacement for intuition.
The problem with a world without products is that people may become despondent over ever becoming experts. As we discussed regarding teachers, or doctors, sometimes tools are what is needed for the moment. Products in this content can then be seen as occupational therapy for the mind. Do something so that you don't grow weary and bored.
While the road to becoming an expert begins with study and experience, for the meantime, products have their place. This is like the stories about all the innovative ways people are using iPads. From doctors being able to have easy access to patient information and x-rays, to teachers using it as a teaching tool in the classroom, these stories seem very compelling. But in light of our discussion, they are only a means to an end. The best approach is to emulate the product team themselves, deliberating diligently for hours to discover new ideas and insights. While the product is the outcome, the focus is always on the concepts they represent. Like the doctor that used to rely on intuition, or the teacher that used to bring excitement to the classroom without technology, if Apple has stalled, it's because they have become reliant on the products they themselves have developed.
Selling the Stories
While the stories we hear in the Apple advertisements are exciting, the goal of the products should be to bring that excitement down into the real world. While the marketing presents sentiments that are universally accepted, the outcome depends on each end-user.
Everyone agrees that if technology could advance the medical or education professions, then it is serving a vital purpose. The distinction though is in its application. Obviously the intention is that Apple's products be good for everyone. But there are also specific details that relate to each individual user. To combat the media, which is to show the veracity of new products, Apple should focus more on promoting these personal stories. Accounts of how people were directly benefited from using their products. The more stories that are collected, the greater the momentum for each new product offering. But the real success stories are from those that used iPads for a time, then learned how to implement the "iPad experience" in their own lives.
This discussion reverts back and forth between making use of products, and the motivation to put down or discard them. The motivation behind the title of this essay, is that while the product reminds us of universal concepts, the main point is to apply these concepts* within one's own path of discovery. To a certain extent, the product needs to be seen as bitter (i.e. something hateful), although it can also sweeten your lives as well (i.e. beloved).
Making Products
The culmination of these thoughts is that the greatest product is experience itself. This is why personal stories are so telling. Like an expert doctor who has seen thousands of patients over the years, the more examples we see of people using the product, the more we can learn to live our lives without it. This is like the expert doctor who intuitively knows the treatment even before the scans, tests, etc... His tools of the trade are not something that can be bought on Apple.com. They are the product of his experience, gained as the result of years of effort and training. The reason personal stories are so marketable is because they show us the ways in which the iPad are beneficial. Like a doctor who has a roomful of treatments to choose from, these stories sensitize us to what people stand to gain from the product.
End-User Content
The primary example for this type of interaction is between a teacher and their student. The teacher teaches something, and the unbashful student points out what he thinks is a difficulty. The novelty we would like to bring out is that while the teacher presents the concept, it is still up to the understanding student to construct the tool or product.
Apple has always prided itself on delivering products that foster creativity. The greatest fostering, however, would be not to need these products at all. Maybe we could all read Wikipedia entries about speed, thinness, portability... all these universal concepts presented in the commercials. Maybe this would be enough? But as we said, students need to feel like they are doing something productive, and so tools or products are developed. The best result would be for the student (end-user) to come back to Apple and say you've got it all wrong. You should make the product this way, etc... At its heart, this is really what open API or the App Store is all about. For the teacher, programming suggestions and submissions are a sign that the student was listening well in class.
Inspired Products
Aside from the fact that the teacher (or manufacturer in this case) should be open to feedback, manufacturer-driven products also have another potential problem: they aren't developed with the same degree of inspiration as user-generated content. A team of coworkers can come up with products, but their offerings cannot be said to fully "house" the concepts. As we said above, products are only a means to an end. They are there to train the students toward self-sufficiency, until the point that perhaps they are not even needed at all. The fact that the end-users are the ones most inclined to eventually throw away the product, also makes them the best ones to develop and update it.
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