Testimony during the ongoing legal battle between Samsung and Apple has revealed that the two companies have very different product development styles. Whereas Samsung employs over 1, 000 people to help design its wares, Apple leaves its design decisions to a handful of engineers who meet weekly around a kitchen table.
The 15 industrial designers Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) employs come from the U.S., U.K., Australia and Japan. It was in these pow-wows that products such as the iPhone and iPad were designed.
According to an Apple engineer, the small group of engineers is headed by Sir Jonathan Ive.
And why shouldn’t big decisions be made by a small group of thoughtful, committed tech designers? Indeed, there is something to be said for having feedback from a great number of smart people – less of a possibility that certain details might fall through the cracks, etc. – but a large number of decision makers submitting input and opinion can both slow down the process of coming to a final design for production, and weigh the product down with too many features in the hope of making everybody happy or trying to think of everything. Think about your local diner: there are many things on the menu, sure, and some of them are pretty good (always go with breakfast at a diner) but how many of the items are really great?
Another positive aspect of a smaller, more manageable team is that conflicts are there, out in the open. There is no possibility of hiding amongst the crowd, forming cliques that can stymie teamwork and ultimately be destructive to the group’s overall goal.
A smaller team also makes it possible for a leader to look into the eyes of everyone that reports to him/her and see whether the understanding is there, that all the pieces of a task are coming together and everyone is on the same page. Great teams are packed with individuals who are focused on moving forward and breaking new ground. That’s a fantastic thing, but the end goal has to be the aim and the leader’s job is to keep the boat going in the right direction while setting priorities.
What are some other upsides or downsides of having a lean and mean design or business team? Do smaller teams, like the one working on Apple’s products, put themselves at any kind of risk by limiting their numbers?
