The Simple Stick

Of all of the things that Apple is known for, a major one is simplicity. It seems weird to say it, particularly when talking about complicated, powerful devices like iPhones and Macbooks, but everyone knows that it’s true. When compared to competing devices, Apple’s are almost always simpler to use.

This wasn’t just due to luck — it was due in large part to Steve Jobs and his “simple stick”.

I first heard about this in a recent episode of the Founders podcast, where they said:

“If an idea was not distilled down to its essence, Steve would reject it.

If an idea took a turn when it should have traveled in a straight line.

If you made different versions of anything, Steve would hit you with the simple stick until you simplified it down to one.”

In the case of Jobs, it wasn’t about the quality of the work but simply that it was too complicated. In a post on The Daily Coach a while back, they shared this anecdote:

“The suspense is killing me,” I said. “How’d it go this morning?”

“Well,” he said, “Steve hit us with the Simple Stick.”

Translation: Steve had rejected their work — not because it was bad but because in some way it failed to distill the idea to its essence. It took a turn when it should have travelled a…