Also, why is the Steve Jobs example unconvincing? It seems, in fact, an example of the sort of thing I am talking about.
Here’s something that Bruce Tognazzini (HCI expert and author of the famous Apple Human Interface Guidelines) said about Steve Jobs:
Steve Jobs was also one of the greatest human-computer interaction designers of all time, though he would have adamantly denied it. (That’s one of Apple’s problems today. They lost the only HCI designer with any power in the entire company the day Steve died, and they don’t even know it.)
Had you asked Steve Jobs to break down his intuitions into lower-level components, and then evaluate those, he may well have failed. And yet he made incredible, groundbreaking, visionary products, again and again and again. He had good reason to be confident in his high-level intuitions. Why would he want to discard those, and attempt a lower-level analysis?
I had worded it somewhat poorly, I wasn’t intending to say that Steve Jobs should have attempted a lower level analysis in technology design.
I just found it unconvincing in the sense that I couldn’t think of an example where applying lower level intuitions was a strategic mistake for me in particular. As you mention in your other comment, I am not substantially more certain that my high-level intuition is well-honed in any particular discipline.
More generally, Steve Jobs’ consistently applied high-level intuition to big life decisions too ― as evidenced by his commencement speech. It on the whole worked out for him I guess, but he also did try to cure his cancer with alternative medicine which he later regretted.
I completely agree with your computational tradeoff comment though.
Also, why is the Steve Jobs example unconvincing? It seems, in fact, an example of the sort of thing I am talking about.
Here’s something that Bruce Tognazzini (HCI expert and author of the famous Apple Human Interface Guidelines) said about Steve Jobs:
Had you asked Steve Jobs to break down his intuitions into lower-level components, and then evaluate those, he may well have failed. And yet he made incredible, groundbreaking, visionary products, again and again and again. He had good reason to be confident in his high-level intuitions. Why would he want to discard those, and attempt a lower-level analysis?
I had worded it somewhat poorly, I wasn’t intending to say that Steve Jobs should have attempted a lower level analysis in technology design.
I just found it unconvincing in the sense that I couldn’t think of an example where applying lower level intuitions was a strategic mistake for me in particular. As you mention in your other comment, I am not substantially more certain that my high-level intuition is well-honed in any particular discipline.
More generally, Steve Jobs’ consistently applied high-level intuition to big life decisions too ― as evidenced by his commencement speech. It on the whole worked out for him I guess, but he also did try to cure his cancer with alternative medicine which he later regretted.
I completely agree with your computational tradeoff comment though.