Why Apple is successful...

[UFO]

More interesting reading....(I know, probably too may words for most of you)

Aside from having their products build by near slave labor with insane margins...this is was Apple does internally to be successful.

If find it interesting because this pretty much flies in the face of everything we do at our company...especially the part in red.  I'm being pressured every year to "move upwards" though it's quite clear I have no interest in management and I've very good at design.  So after awhile management will begin to think I'm a slacker for not wanting to move up, despite continuing to do good design.  I constantly have to battle with new managers to get them to understand that we all can't be VPs and that they need to leave engineers alone if 1) they are good at what they do, and 2) are happy at the level they are at.

In his new book, Inside Apple, Fortune's Adam Lashinsky delves far beyond one quarter and seeks to understand what makes Apple so successful, and so unique.
His conclusion: "Think Different" isn't just a marketing slogan.

"They do things exactly the opposite from the way most companies do business and, indeed, the way business is taught in business school," Lashinsky says.
For example, while most Fortune 500 firms believe senior managers should be capable of performing multiple functions within an organization, Apple "values expertise," he says.
Similarly, while most companies focus on employee development and "upward mobility" within a firm, Lashinsky notes Apple's attitude is: "If you're really good at this, keep doing it."
Apple's famed design chief Jonathan Ive is a great example of how Apple does things different. Instead of grooming Ive to be Apple's next CEO — as some outsiders wrongly speculated in recent years — Apple let Ive do what he does best: Focus on design which, Lashinsky reports, is what he wants to do above all else.

Another way Apple is different — very different — is that while most companies value transparency and cooperation, Apple is opaque and keeps secrets, including from its own employees.

"It's not an exaggeration to compare [Apple] to the CIA or some other intelligence agency," Lashinsky says. "They believe everything that happens inside is a secret and that pertains not just to…outsiders but also internally. They don't share their secrets [and] you're expected to mind your own business."

This culture of secrecy may be off-putting to some, but Lashinsky speculates it helps limit the politicking and infighting that sometimes corrupts big companies. If you're not aware of what's going on in other departments -- or even within your department -- you're more inclined to focus on the task you've been assigned, he speculates; furthermore, intense dedication to the task at hand — even seemingly 'simple' issues such as the design of the boxes for Apple products — is also a big part of the Apple culture, and the lack of information about goings on elsewhere helps employees stayed focused.

In addition, Apple is organized along functional lines rather than product lines, meaning there is just one department for marketing, sales, finance, manufacturing, etc., instead of redundant department around different product lines as is common elsewhere. This too helps limit the creation of little fiefdoms and the "tiny kings" that often accompanying them.
As with almost everything at Apple, the firm's corporate culture flows from its co-founder Steve Jobs. A big question for Apple is whether the values Jobs instilled at the company will prevail after his passing. Lashinsky believes the culture is so deeply ingrained in new CEO Tim Cook and other Apple employees that it's destined to last for the foreseeable future, at least.

So far so (very) good, judging by the company's first full quarter since Jobs' death.

[Mr.Black]

I'll take my bottom of the food chain job any day over the (very low level) management job I once had.

[bomber]

the "up or out" syndrome is an easy, knee jerfk position to take wrt your employees . . . .

most often it results in losing a great worker, and gaining a mediocre manager.

[SuperHans]

I just want a job where I don't have to deal with morons. Is that too much to ask? I bet they have morons at Apple.

[Kneescrubber]

We have 6 employees including the owner and his wife. Not much push here to move up.

[scottzilla]

Corporations generally create an environment where good employees reach the highest level of uselessness.

[JReazor]

"In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."

That was written in 1969 and it still just as true today.

[garry]

I applaud this.

The very last thing I want to do is advance in job title at my company. I'm still a cog, and I still get stuff done. Increased visibility means increased meetings (which I simply can NOT afford), and increased politics (which I refuse to engage in).

I'm in the same boat. I've reached the highest level of "hands on" engineer where I work and have no desire to move up to management levels. I like my job and I'm very good at it.

Problem is, if I don't get promoted, I won't get any raises no matter how well I perform or how hard I work. They say I'm making 8% more than the median (average?) guy in the same job, so I don't get any raises. For three years running I've been rated highly in reviews, but got 2 crappy raises, and nothing last year. This is getting old...

[phoenix]

Problem is, if I don't get promoted, I won't get any raises no matter how well I perform or how hard I work. They say I'm making 8% more than the median (average?) guy in the same job, so I don't get any raises. For three years running I've been rated highly in reviews, but got 2 crappy raises, and nothing last year. This is getting old...

same pay plan with my company. After you get above the midpoint in the salary range, you need to look like the next coming of Jesus to get a decent raise.

And at my job, management positions are dripping down into the lower pay grades. there are a lot of people in my pay grade who are supervisors. I might become one someday without moving up. Then again, I haven't done much design work in the past 2 months, just pseudo-supervising others.

[antvq]

I'm in the same boat. I've reached the highest level of "hands on" engineer where I work and have no desire to move up to management levels. I like my job and I'm very good at it.

Problem is, if I don't get promoted, I won't get any raises no matter how well I perform or how hard I work. They say I'm making 8% more than the median (average?) guy in the same job, so I don't get any raises. For three years running I've been rated highly in reviews, but got 2 crappy raises, and nothing last year. This is getting old...

This.

Not to brag but I'm very good at what I do.  I'm at the top of my pay scale and can't get a raise unless I move into a new higher postion/pay scale.    

The problem is, I don't WANT to move.  I'm happy with what I do, and the company is very happy with my results.  

Why can't supposedly intelligent corp officers recognize that you reward quality of work regardless of whether or not the person is on path to promotion.

[Mr.Black]

Corporations generally create an environment where good employees reach the highest level of uselessness.

Fuck ups move up.

[Meemuh]

But - to counter Apple's "if you do it well, keep doing it" mentality...what if you've got good talent that wants to move up?  Aren't they missing those folks - or do they have an avenue for those folk?

I suppose they can apply for openings like anyone else, but do they have any advantage over anyone else if the uppers don't consider them because they only see them in their present role?

[SuperHans]

I'm lucky as I have two more paygrades I can move into and still essentially keep doing the same job. I had recently moved from an hourly to a salaried postion about 5 years ago and actually had to take a significant pay cut for the pleasure. I'm finally getting to where I was financially when I made the switch.

It will be some time until I max out, but then again the financial set back I took I will never recover from. On the bright side I guess I'm now more marketable and I enjoy what I do now far more. Without going back to school to get a degree I will at some point max out and not be able to make that leap to a Manager. Although that's not a place I would want to go as I'm a hands on type of guy and sitting in meetings all day would cause me to probably go postal.

You really have to weigh it all out and figure out what makes you happy. As long as you can keep some financial security I guess in the long run it's worth it.

[Giaka]

More interesting reading....(I know, probably too may words for most of you)

Aside from having their products build by near slave labor with insane margins...this is was Apple does internally to be successful.

If find it interesting because this pretty much flies in the face of everything we do at our company...especially the part in red.  

Mine as well. I do what I do and I am pretty darn good at it. At review time it will be time to talk about goals and moving up. If I tell them I am happy doing what I am doing then I am a slacker, get an "average" review and a mediocre bonus.

During a review at my last job I was told I needed to move up, gain more responsibility, make more money, get more face time with VPs, let someone else do what I was currently doing, etc.. Then I was asked about my goals, I told my boss straight up, my goal for this year is to find a new job unless we stop talking about this moving up crap. I quit about a month later.  

[satxbonneville]

More interesting reading....(I know, probably too may words for most of you)

little fiefdoms and the "tiny kings" that often accompanying them.

This is what I'm battling right now. It's a constant irritant and wears me the fuck out having to deal with trumped up nimrods who would rather piss on the other side of the rock to mark their territory than actually work toward the common goal. I had a meeting about a month ago with two of the nimrods from Division regarding the lack of responsiveness and utter inability of their support team to fix a problem that was preventing my doctors from accessing our EMR from the hospital. The entire 1.5 hours of the meeting was consumed with:

1. A Powerpoint presentation proclaiming the total awesomeness of the support team and it's management
2. Lunch

 

It took until last week Friday for the support team to actually fix the problem...resolved by adding an entry to the HOSTS file.  

It's the Peter Principle in all it's splendor.

[Malks]

I started with a large transit operation in February 1974 and continued to move up within the organization until I reached my goal position in 1985.  Once there I was satisfied with my progression and continued in that job until my retirement on December 16, 2011.  During that time my boss came to me on a couple of occasions asking if I would like to participate in a job rotation to see if there were any fields that would be of interest.  I flatly refused and said my long term plans were to retire from my current job.  He must have respected that position because I always received good performance reviews.