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If My Old Boss Was Giving Me Real-Time Feedback While I Tried to Design a Smartphone
"I've just got a couple of notes for you"
I came across this photo of the evolution of Google's smartphone designs over the years:
Image credit: DemanKing3003
It reminded me of an early industrial design gig I had, where I worked under a micromanaging supervisor. I'd produce on-screen drawings while he stood behind me, telling me to slant this line a bit more, adjust this radius, soften this edge; it was so bad that my co-workers and I called him "The Millimeter" behind his back, as he was always saying "Just move that line a millimeter to the left."
He was also flighty, indecisive and easily distracted. So the Google photo made me think of what each of his notes would've been, if this was a single design project I was working on while he was standing behind me:
Speaking of micromanaging, I had a design buddy at a different gig who told me his boss would put his hand on my buddy's hand to steer the mouse while making CAD adjustments. Top that.
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The meeting process for almost every smartphone I've worked on:
I interviewed a former Blackberry designer. They told me that they were presenting full screen designs for years before and after the iPhone, but management and engineering kept telling them what a horrible idea it was. That's how you lose $76 billion.
Mini rant: BTW, these managers are still running huge companies and making millions. Some are high paid professors with tenure. What do they say in interviews when they ask, "so what did you accomplish at your last job?" I **ssed away $76 billion in shareholder value and took a gold parachute. Now tell me about the stock options I'm getting!"
Job creators my derrière.
Haha. Can't tell you how many footwear projects I've worked on that went, "We want something like a Nike Free, but not . . . Nah. Just kidding. Just make a crappy Nike Free."
I had an experience with a newly minted manager that was doing the millimiter thing, standing behind me while designing a print piece. He kept giving me advice and telling me what to do, and then he finally said "Let me just take over for a minute". I said "I don't think so", shut the computer off and went home. I left shortly after.
Did we work together?