Apple's Flexible Engineering Teams Said to Operate Like a Startup

[RADumas]

The ends bless the means

Apple is doing well right now, so people look at their practices and bless them as being the smart way to do things. When Apple is doing poorly, people will look at their practices and declare them the obvious cause of the mayhem. Same practices in any case.

 

[xxgilxx]

That explainst it!!!!Looks like somebody was quickly moved from the $h1t department to the antenna development department of the iphone 4.

 

[appleguy123]

I want retina support for the Texas Hold 'em app! Apple really just needs to hire more people, and I cannot believe that people rated this positive.

 

[wushuwannabe]

Jeez - Just hire some more people!

Tony

I personally know a couple people who have been hired up by Apple at their headquarters within the past year, so as far as I can tell, they ARE hiring more people.

 

[Chalkperson]

Apple works slowly, one project at a time, and, because Jobs controls every aspect of ever project then Apple functions at his pace...so, the iPad launched without Multitasking because those Engineers were working on the Multitasking software for the iPhone, now that is finished they are working on the iPad Multitasking software...as for his "control" it even extends to picking the colors of the t-shirts that the people working in the Apple Store wear...

 

[ModestForumName]

I think the best part of the article is the reaffirmation that they have, in fact, put more staff back on development of OSX 10.7

 

[11800506]

But why couldn't they hire just a few more engineers so that these small projects don't slip through the cracks? Or so that larger projects that also seem to have been ignored (such as iLife, iWork, etc) don't languish in the market after not having been updated for months?

I understand the point about innovation and efficiency with this method as well as the cost savings, but Apple has multi-billion dollar profits, so you would think they could invest in a few more employees for these types of issues.

 

[Manderby]

Why is this big news? Software Engineering is a knowledge-based process, you always work on what you are best at and you gain experience in other topics by working together with others and/or developing interest by yourself. Otherwise, everybody needs to learn everything from the ground up and from day one. Only small companies can / must afford to have people knowing everything.

Me myself, I prefer a mix of both worlds. Be responsible for certain projects but be an expert in a few to help others.

 

[cybaster]

Oh, that explains why iDisk sucks. Maybe the guy who wrote it has been out buying black turtlenecks for Steve. Or he died a decade ago and no one noticed.

It's not that far of a walk, the company store at Cupertino sells those turtlenecks...

 

[inlovewithi]

They've been working like this for almost their entire history, minus the times they operated like every other major company and look what happened there.

And you know this how? I mean how can you know that they've been working like this for almost their entire history, but the time Apple was doing bad? Not bashing anything, just that the comment was very interesting.

 

[Archman!]

They could be waiting for the apple TV to update. Maybe the new ATV will have a web browser and the new remote app could work as a keyboard for the new version of apple TV. Because if any of you know whats its like to use the supplied hand remote to enter in stuff on ATV you know how mind numbingly slow it is. Here's hoping anyway...

 

[NT1440]

And you know this how? I mean how can you know that they've been working like this for almost their entire history, but the time Apple was doing bad? Not bashing anything, just that the comment was very interesting.

I've done a ton of reading on Apple's internal culture and history.

For anyone interested in the early days of Apple from a coders perspective I suggest reading from http://folklore.org/index.py. It's EXTREMELY interesting.

 

[baryon]

It's faster to just walk up to my computer and turn on iTunes than get my iPod Touch and launch the app, wait for it to connect, and then realise my speakers are turned down.

The app is cool but pretty useless, it's just good for impressing people every once in a while. I'd rather have Apple develop 10.7 than a new Remote app...

 

[Crzyrio]

With a company such as apple, to an extent small groups are better. It gives them the chance to create better quality products. in the end i think thats what matter for me atleast

I know there are people out there that would rather have stuff out faster.

 

[macjiro]

That is an interesting article. I'm not a business genius but i think there is good and not so good with the approach of one of the richest companies in history to approach their business method as a group of 'start-ups'.

A start-up needs to be 'tight' cause of limited resources and growth. The purpose is to get out of that and expand. Including your workforce so then you can continue the growth and momentum of the company products. When an already big company which has grown exponentially cements the staff and their products grow...then you exhaust the staff and your product output slows down. (No wonder with Mac Pros/Pro Apps, etc, etc). It comes across that they are 'tight-wads'. When you have all the resources (cash/everything) at your disposal, you want to continue the growth by expanding staff. If you are growing it should never be cemented, it should be expanding. If you are not selling products, then you cement or even lay off. Apple is nowhere near a situation where they are suffering even in the economy. They must have a very exhausted and burnt-out staff.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

They've been working like this for almost their entire history, minus the times they operated like every other major company and look what happened there.

Maybe apple seems different because they really ARE different from the mold. Google is another good example of a unique workplace environment.

The only issue with this is this is the Apple of the 1980's. Apple is getting too big. They need to start having dedicated teams. I honestly feel this is why Snow Leopard is the mess it is because engineers where bouncing back and forth between 10.6 and iPhone OS.

 

[Jetson]

I think it's great that Apple tries to make developers' work lives more interesting. Giving them different projects and platforms to work on definitely helps prevent boredom and may retain good coders.

However the downside is obvious - programs that go languishing in a immature or semi-broken state.

Yes Apple, hire more people

 

[Cousin Dirk]

I like this way of working. Keeps people focused, motivated. Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to add a few extra engineers to the team, but one of the reasons why Microsoft lacks a direction (other than the directionless twerp at the helm), is the fact that they just throw people at problems until they go away. Wasn't there a team of about 8 people just programming the shutdown menu on Vista?

 

[rmatthewware]

I think keeping Apple small keeps it personable, but they're going to suffer in segments such as phone and tablet development as competition increases. Android is going to keep upgrading and Apple is going to start to lag behind on features. I like that the small team that moves around probably helps keep all Apple products similar. I'm afraid that some things that haven't been upgraded for a while, like the AppleTV and Macbook Air, suffer because of this process.

 

[grapemac]

They could be waiting for the apple TV to update. Maybe the new ATV will have a web browser and the new remote app could work as a keyboard for the new version of apple TV. Because if any of you know whats its like to use the supplied hand remote to enter in stuff on ATV you know how mind numbingly slow it is. Here's hoping anyway...

That'd be pretty good. As would be the idea of the ATV having a camera built-in for living room FaceTime.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

I think it's great that Apple tries to make developers' work lives more interesting. Giving them different projects and platforms to work on definitely helps prevent boredom and may retain good coders.

However the downside is obvious - programs that go languishing in a immature or semi-broken state.

Yes Apple, hire more people

I agree however move them once the product is finished. Another problem with moving people is you lose your focus. Finish OSX 10.7, than maybe move them onto another project afterwards.

I like this way of working. Keeps people focused, motivated. Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to add a few extra engineers to the team, but one of the reasons why Microsoft lacks a direction (other than the directionless twerp at the helm), is the fact that they just throw people at problems until they go away. Wasn't there a team of about 8 people just programming the shutdown menu on Vista?

How can you stay focused moving around from project to project?

 

[Poll Smoker]

Interesting, but newsworthy of front page?

Shut up.

 

[Stella]

Says and explains a lot about Apple.. why Apple can't update its apps. Its incapable of multi-tasking particuarly well... ( kind of reminds me of a certain OS prefixed with 'i' ).

 

[Solinus]

It's faster to just walk up to my computer and turn on iTunes than get my iPod Touch and launch the app, wait for it to connect, and then realise my speakers are turned down.

The app is cool but pretty useless, it's just good for impressing people every once in a while. I'd rather have Apple develop 10.7 than a new Remote app...

I use it everyday. The computer is in a different room (Airtunes is great) so it is most definitely not faster for me to get up and walk to the computer whenever I want to change songs.

I'd really like to see iPad support, fast app switching and the background audio controls so I can change the volume without exiting the current app.

 

[Poll Smoker]

With a company such as apple, to an extent small groups are better. It gives them the chance to create better quality products.

Why?