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Does Apple test the loyalty of new engineers with fake projects?
Let's get the answer to this question out of the way quickly -- no, Apple does not test the loyalty of new engineers with fake projects. Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica looked into the veracity of a rumor that was given life by author Adam Lishinsky's book Inside Apple, which posited that some employees were "hired into so-called dummy positions, roles that aren't explained in detail until after they join the company." Later on, Lashinsky spoke about the book during a presentation at LinkedIn, and an audience member claimed that a friend had worked for nine months on "fake products" at Apple before moving to a "real" project. This claim, which was captured on video and widely reported by the Apple media, took on a life as a fact. Cheng said that several of her friends who are Apple employees were dubious about the claim, so she interviewed current and former Apple engineers and found that none of them had ever been assigned to a faux project. One engineer came right out and told Cheng "I find it suspect that they'd ever waste their own and the employee's time on something that didn't directly contribute to their bottom line somehow." An employee currently working at Apple told Cheng that "It's a lot easier to have someone sign an NDA and then fire them if they violate it." So Cheng went to the source, Adam Lashinsky, who said that he never meant to imply that he was talking about fake projects. "The concept I was trying to describe might best be worded as 'placeholder' positions or 'unspecified' projects," explained Lashinsky. As for the audience member at LinkedIn, it was more likely that his friend was assigned to an experimental project that never worked out and was eventually canceled. With Cheng's post, we can hopefully put yet another stupid Apple rumor to rest.
Former Apple employee questions author Adam Lashinsky
Author and Fortune Magazine editor Adam Lashinsky's new book -- Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired - and Secretive - Company Really Works -- is in bookstores now and the author has embarked on a publicity tour to drum up sales. At the first stop on the tour at the LinkedIn headquarters in Mountain View, CA, Lashinsky had a fascinating exchange with a former Apple employee who asked the author "What creates the perfect Kool-Aid drinker?" The ex-employee notes that the book is quite accurate in its portrayal of the secrecy of the company and the rigorous interview process. While this is just a short (and irritatingly low volume) clip of the interview, you can watch the entire 50-minute talk emceed by LinkedIn executive editor Dan Roth here.
Inside Apple offers a quick read, corporate insights
I just finished Adam Lashinsky's "Inside Apple", now available for sale at most major vendors. It's a quick, easy read and clocks in at just over 200 pages with large, readable type. If you're looking for an exhaustive Tracy Kidder take on how Apple works and operates, this book isn't it. Instead, it offers a refreshing overview of Apple history and corporate culture from NeXT to iPhone. There's little here that's new or shocking, but it's all put together in a readable style. It's a perfect airplane book -- it will keep you entertained without requiring too much commitment. You'll find plenty of anecdotes, from how Apple developed its retail strategy to how it acquired Cisco's "iOS" moniker for its own use. You'll also learn about Apple's social structure (designers rule the world while the Mac teams have seen their status plummet) and its penny-pinching policies. There's a lot about Jobs and his quirks, both personal and business as well. What you don't get is a lot of deep analysis. I suspect that's because Apple's closed system didn't allow Lashinsky access to the people who could have provided those insights. There's a lot of back story and very little about the current state of affairs. Clearly, all his research had to be done from the outside, with ex-employees and those who have done business with the company. As the book points out, this secrecy has served Apple well. One section that really popped for me early in the book involved a discussion of Korean phone maker LG. Unlike Apple, they pre-announced a product and under-delivered it. It's a mistake that Apple, with its tight limits on information, would never have made. In the end, Lashinsky describes Apple's corporate culture and business successes, allowing each reader to draw the line from the cause to the effect. I found it an enjoyable read. If you are someone interested in Apple and its culture, you'll probably want to pick up a copy. Adam Lashinsky's Inside Apple book is available in the iTunes iBookstore for US$12.99 and from Amazon.
Adam Lashinsky's Inside Apple now available
I'm sure by now most of you have read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. If you're still hungry for more information on Apple, then you should pick up a copy of Adam Lashinsky's Inside Apple book. The book takes a corporate look at the inner workings of Apple. It introduces more of the business side of Steve Jobs and less of the personal side we saw in Isaacson's biography. Lashinsky interviewed Apple's management team and several board members as part of his research into the business magic that drives Apple's brand. Many of those recent tidbits about Apple's inner workings have come from the Inside Apple book. The story about Apple's dedicated packaging room was pulled from Lashinsky's book as well as the idea that Apple is neither a fun nor a lucrative place to work, unless you climb into upper level management. There's also the revelation that Jobs talked with Lytro CEO Ren Ng about his focus-less camera technology. Though the book will appeal to Apple fans wanting juicy details about Apple's corporate culture, Inside Apple is also meant to be a guide for business leaders looking to draw some leadership advice from a team many believe is the best in the business. Adam Lashinsky's Inside Apple book is available in the iTunes iBookstore for US$12.99 and from Amazon.
Inside Apple: On Apple's legendary secrecy
Fortune has published a lengthy excerpt from Adam Lashinsky's Inside Apple, a book scheduled to be released next week that provides an unprecedented look inside a company legendary for its secrecy. I'd encourage you to read the entire excerpt at Fortune, and buy the book when it comes out, but I've included a couple summarized items below to stoke your curiosity. Many new employees are hired into "dummy positions," and they don't know the details of their work until after their first day on the job. No one helps new employees set up their computers on Apple's network; anyone hired by Apple is simply assumed to have the knowledge to do it themselves. Plainclothes Apple security agents supposedly hang out at a bar/restaurant right off the Apple campus and listen for employees discussing company matters. No one knows if this is true or not, but just the rumor of it is enough to keep employees quiet. Apple has an unwritten hierarchy of "coolness" -- iOS engineers are at the top, with iOS hardware engineers coming in second. iTunes and other online services come next, with Mac employees now considered "second-rate" in the pecking order. Sales, HR, and customer service aren't considered even remotely cool at Apple (no offense, but are they anywhere?). According to Lashinsky, "Almost nobody describes working at Apple as being fun." Just reading through this brief excerpt of Inside Apple, the corporate culture at Cupertino honestly reminds me a lot of my time in the military. The extreme emphasis on secrecy, the "need to know" culture, the compartmentalizing of separate divisions, the emphasis on producing results (and not usually seeing tangible rewards for doing so)... it's all very uncomfortably familiar. I don't think I'd enjoy working at Apple. Inside Apple will be coming out next week. Quite a few of us at TUAW are interested in seeing what the book has to say about the company, and we'll have a review of the book itself up later on.
