

Woz on Creativity: Work Alone - bootload
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/18/woz-on-creativity-and-innovation/

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sutro
This brought to mind Hemingway's Nobel acceptance:

"Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate
the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in
public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For
he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face
eternity, or the lack of it, each day.

For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for
something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that
has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with
great luck, he will succeed.

How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to
write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had
such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he
can go, out to where no one can help him."

~~~
civilian
I could not upvote this more, but maybe it's just because I'm going through an
intense "work hard in solitude" period.

Here's a quote I ran across: <http://musicthoughts.com/t/415> "The best chance
you have, if you want to rise, is to give yourself up to loneliness, fear
nothing, and work hard."

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SkyMarshal
Similar point is made in this article oriented toward military officers:

<http://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/>

TLDR: Leadership requires depth of understanding, intospection, and capacity
for creativity, all of which require solitude to cultivate.

~~~
djsla
This piece blew me away - thank you for posting it! I wonder if many people
find the main message difficult to relate to. I certainly would have just 2
years ago while in a corporate world.

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alanfalcon
If you're reading Hacker News but haven't read iWoz, or at least had it on
your reading list for a long time and plan to get to it soon, then you're
reading the wrong website. You simply can't get any more "been there, done
that" than Woz when it comes to technology and startups. Steve's life is an
open book, and you won't find any bullet points of indispensable wisdom in it,
but you'll come away with a lifetime of experiences to draw on for your own
decision making, and hopefully a little bit better worldview. I thought I knew
all there was to know about the Apple story, but knowing a list of facts isn't
like experiencing things from the point of view who made it possible. Would
that the world had more Steve Wozniaks in it.

~~~
ekianjo
I haven't read that book but it seems, from what I have read online, that it
contains a lot of bragging from Woz, and not enough details about the
challenges he faced in the early days. Plus the title itself is misleading.
Wozniak had no direct link to the Apple in iPod/iPhone/iPad era.

~~~
drieddust
Once technology issue is resolved engineer should humbly deny his contribution
and let others take or share the credit??

On a serious note I have seen couple of interviews but to me Woz never
appeared to be bragging. He simply likes explaining technology.

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Uglyfruit
Serious Creativity" is definitely something that cannot be done in a group
work. The process that allows to generate new ideas, new ways to do something,
is basically the same one for each of us:

1) The starting point is always the observation of anomalies in an existing
system or pattern. 2) You reason on those anomalies in your head, alone. 3)
You come up with a possible response, alone. 4) You visualize in your head how
this response would actually works. This should be practiced until you see it
working smoothly from beginning to end. You do this alone. 5) Finally you set
to work in order to bring this response into our physical world. Either alone
or in a group-work

(The above needs some further explanation but this will bring me out of track
now. If anyone wants me to elaborate more on those 5 points I will do it
opening a new thread.)

Now, doesn't this process sounds familiar ? Mr Paul Graham & co. have set up
YC on those 5 points. In his article "How to apply to YC" he writes:"...what
we look for in ideas is not the type of idea but the level of insight you have
about it...". So if steps 1 to 4 are well executed, step 5 would be to apply
to YC (or any other start up incubator that has the same framework process for
selection.)

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Jayasimhan
On similar lines.. there is a new book:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
<http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/about-the-book/>

~~~
Jayasimhan
Here is the talk she gave at TED2012.
[http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts....](http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html)

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city41
I feel this quote is unfair taken out of context of the rest of the book. iWoz
was an interesting read. What surprised me about it is I came away feeling
like Woz feels like a victim in many ways and he's got a skewed outlook on the
world. When you feel that perspective from the book, this quote takes on a
different meaning. At least it did to me. It feels more arrogant and self
serving. I got the feeling that Woz thinks the world in general doesn't
appreciate him, and so he used this book (and this quote) to try and force the
idea that he is a true genius. Which is sad, because, well, he _is_ a true
genius.

For what it's worth I'm finding it hard to put my reaction to iWoz in words. I
recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it. I'm pretty sure you will also come
away with an interesting new perspective on the person that Steve is.

~~~
laic
If you've read the iWoz, you will see Steve Jobs was jerk from the beginning.

~~~
ohashi
I was convinced already after reading Founders at Work and how Jobs screwed
him out of money right from the start.

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zobzu
In my experience this is correct. Work alone. It forces you to know what
you're doing, and every part of this. So you're a deeper understanding.

Plus, there's nobody to tell you what to do (in all kind of meanings, eg,
"maybe if you did xx that would be better!"). So you find your own solution.

On top of that, you'll sometimes reach walls that you have to destroy, again,
on your own.

Basically, on your own, you gain more experience. It doesn't mean you
shouldn't share it back of course. But you need to get some stuff done from A
to Z if you want to be able to think by yourself (aka innovate, etc.)

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jimbokun
I've been spending a lot of time recently trying to plan the work we need to
do in the next few weeks to deliver or product to market, planning, meeting,
discussing, etc. It was looking like there's no way to finish all the work we
have to do.

Today, I made a point to avoid email and discussions with coworkers and just
crank through as many JIRA tickets as possible. I was shocked how much I
accomplished.

Wasn't necessarily the most creative work, but still seems related to what Woz
is saying.

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dabent
This reminds me of #18 on Hugh MaCleod's "how to be creative" -- Avoid the
Water­coo­ler Gang.

<http://gapingvoid.com/2004/07/25/how-to-be-creative/>

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Eduardo3rd
Personally I think there is a large amount of value in wrestling with an idea
until you are completely stuck on it and then talking to another engineer
about it for a couple of minutes. Maybe I'm just an external processor, but
some of the most creative and interesting things I have come up with have been
the result of talking through a problem I've encountered with someone else.

~~~
brnstz
Perhaps you just need a rubber duck?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging>

Joking aside, I absolutely agree with you. I enjoy working with other smart
people I can bounce ideas off of.

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_boardwalk
Relevant TED talk:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/steven_johnson_where_good_i...](http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html)
Basic idea is that open-ended collaboration > working alone. Which doesn't so
much conflict with the idea that working alone > working on a "committee" or
"team", in my opinion.

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kenrikm
I understand the point about needing time alone to think things over. However
I worry that many will use this as an excuse to stay locked up in their office
making "The next big thing" without consulting or talking to potential
customers/users. It's important to keep in mind that Woz would not have
started Apple if Steve had not been pushing him to do it and gone out and done
the legwork. If you read Jessica's book Woz said that he would have been
perfectly happy working at HP his dream was to work at HP not to build Apple.

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cusackalex
Designer Philippe Starck apparently never reads magazines or watches TV.

Finding time to be truly alone to work is becoming increasingly difficult.
Silence is a luxury few get these days.

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BoredAstronaut
If you want to be creative, be smart and well-informed. Being alone is
primarily important for avoiding interruptions which destroy your train of
thought. Being creative requires combining ideas: well, you can't combine them
if you have never heard of them. So learn a lot! And learn good facts and
proper scientific (ie disprovable) theories, not stupid, useless opinions and
religious/political beliefs invented by overblown authorities. Learn
everything and believe nothing. Then go create.

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redthrowaway
>I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by
committee

The Internet would seem to be an obvious counter-example to this claim.

~~~
moonchrome
"The Internet" ? What definition of Internet allows it to be considered a
single revolutionary entity that was invented, and by a committee no less.

~~~
redthrowaway
ARPANET?

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moonchrome
AFAIK ARPANET started as a project to implement existing ideas about
networking.

~~~
redthrowaway
It was the first packet-switching network, and thus an invention. It also
directly grew into the Internet (the original ARPANET was the first network on
the Internet), hence my response. And, it was designed by committee. So as far
as my original comment goes, I still think the Internet is a pretty good
counter-example to Woz's claim.

~~~
tomhoward
Packet-switching was the invention; ARPANET the implementation.
Implementations by committees/teams/groups are commonplace. For you to call it
a _good counter-example_ , you need to show that packet-switching was invented
by a committee.

~~~
redthrowaway
I don't think separating the two is reasonable. Was the invention of the
internal combustion engine separate from its first construction? Was the
invention of the atom bomb separate from the construction and testing of The
Gadget?

Conception and implementation are, in my mind, both necessary for invention.

~~~
tomhoward
You can define things however you want but you're talking about something very
different to what Woz is talking about.

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staunch
I find it's great to start ideas alone and work with others to see them
completed. I suppose that's pretty much what Woz did with the Apple I and II.

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JumpCrisscross
It's like any evolutionary process. You need a dynamic period when ideas are
smashed together. But you need a lot more time when ideas are given the
opportunity to independently arise. The diversity in the ideas going into the
fusion/collaborative stage will determine the fitness of the output.

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dr_rezzy
Spot on. However, I cant think of a single achievement which was not created
from unfiltered group brainstorming. Then again, I do things differently.

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greenmanmax
My tip of the day: work hard in solitude - stop reading Hacker News :)

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CubicleNinjas
Woz is famous because he worked with a team.

Alone Woz couldn't have had the sense to sell blue boxes, the gumption to
complete Breakout in a crunch, or build a computer that worked with a color
TV, or design the elegant Apple II. He would have stayed at HP and been a
great mid-level manager. He now lives the life he wants, without having to
worry about about money, all because he worked with a team.

~~~
sks
Creativity and success are two different things. Without a team Woz would not
have been as successful as he is today but he would still have been an
insanely creative mid-level manager at HP.

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xxiao
I read somewhere saying Woz is Asperger, is it true? just curious

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Craiggybear
He's right. Best stuff I've ever done involved zero noise and distraction. But
really, I'm just antisocial.

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stiff
Except the work Steve Wozniak is most remembered for was done with Steve Jobs,
so he did in fact work in a team. I think the quote is just a rant against the
pains of pushing innovation in corporate environments, that any engineer could
write just as well in a moment of frustration - anyone in engineering should
recognize a familiar note as he starts talking about committees and marketing
people.

Every engineer already goes through a lot of struggle designing the initial
prototype of the thing being designed, analyses the constraints involved,
tries out different alternatives attempting to find the sweet spot that will
satisfy them all etc. Then, exhausted and in love with the product of his
effort, he shows it to people at some company or institution and they all have
something to say or add to something the engineer perceives as already perfect
or almost perfect, some might have valuable criticism, but some might just
have no idea about the constraints involved because they didn't put in that
much time into analysis, some just want to have their share in the potential
success, some have to think about how to actually sell it etc. That surely is
overwhelming, but it is part of the engineers work and I don't think "Work
alone" is advice of much value. You simply have to accept this is just as an
important part of your work as the design itself - I think most people never
do. Then, you can starting learning how to best deal with it. Also, find a
team or/and organization that you actually like, or at least can tolerate.

~~~
meow
"Except the work Steve Wozniak is most remembered for was done with Steve
Jobs"

It was actually a common misconception. Nearly all the engineering work for
Apple 1,2 was done by Woz alone (as per his book). And Apple 1 was completely
done in isolation in his apartment. His book is such an awesome read.

