Connecting the dots: Steve Jobs’ timeless wisdom for designers
How this mindset changed the way I work with others
🕰️ Est. reading time: ~2 minutes
“𝐀 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬.
𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞."
~ Steve Jobs
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That was a piece from Steve Jobs' interview with Smithsonian1, looking back on his career up to 1995. While Jobs didn’t explicitly mention collaboration as the catalyst for a broader understanding, he always stressed that working together would bring diverse experiences. He called it “cross-pollination,” similar to how pollen from different plants mixes to create stronger, better plants. He believed that bringing people from different areas—like engineering, design, art, and the humanities—together could lead to new ideas and breakthroughs.
Throughout his biography and from the eyes of Apple's ex-designers like Jony Ive and Ken Kocienda, I've noticed that Jobs rooted his work principles in a collaborative culture.
Even in the early days when Pixar merged with Disney Animation when Jobs was the major shareholder of Pixar, the first thing he focused on was remodeling the building. He removed barriers and created inviting spaces for people to work together.2
Here’s what makes it more interesting: Jobs saw collaboration as spontaneous interactions and discussions about ideas among the team or within a close-knit group that could quickly poke at each other.
His definition may seem simple, but this doesn’t mean that collaboration is easy to initiate.
I didn’t intuitively collaborate with others early in my career. I used to believe that designers worked solo, crafting remarkable pieces with their own hands. This belief was comforting to my introverted nature.
But trust me, it would never have been effective!
We need to collaborate with others.
Collaboration helps us see more dots from different perspectives and find ways…
To connect them.
To flesh out half-baked ideas.
To uncover answers to ambiguous questions.
To spark different ideas.
To get or provide feedback.
To challenge your thinking.
And sometimes, collaboration helps build alignment—to gain support for your ideas (read: politics).
I encourage you to collaborate in whatever form it takes.
Collaboration can have downsides, like interrupting others or wasting time. But if we focus on making it an exchange of strengths—where we fill gaps and aim for broader understanding—we can make every collaboration meaningful.
Happy collaborating, opening more dots, and connecting them.
So, how will you start connecting your dots today?
Your design buddy,
Thomas
Reflection prompts
Think about a time when talking with someone gave you a new idea. How did that help you finish the project or solve a problem?
How has working with people who think or work differently from you helped you solve a problem? What did you learn from them?
Teamwork can be great but also sometimes distracting. How do you make sure working with others helps you focus and get things done?
Feel free to take a moment and reflect—I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments if you’re up for sharing.
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