I was watching the interview of Jony Ive, Laurene Powell Jobs, and Tim Cook with Kara Swisher celebrating the legacy, and the person that was Steve Jobs. They talked about how Steve used to be one of the most eccentric people out there. One of the instances the guests shared was that he always cared about making the best product possible. Not the most, the best. It made me feel something. It made me feel how I sometimes tend to be sloppy, and careless about the things that I do.

“Our species deserves better, deserves thought.” -- Jony Ive

When asked about the level of care that the design team at Apple takes when designing the packaging for an Apple product, Jony Ive said, “Our species deserves better, deserves thought.” One thing that Jony Ive touched upon was being intentional. He shared how Steve made every decision after a considerable amount of thought and intention. Nothing was done just because. Hearing this statement made me think about all the times that I have made decisions unintentionally, and how they have over time accumulated a certain amount of debt with them.

I read or maybe watched it somewhere that the entities in this Universe almost always tend to decay. If you leave an apple in your fridge for a week, it will naturally decay. A body without exercise and a healthy diet will naturally become unhealthy. Anything left to stay the way it is will eventually become worse. It becomes our responsibility to regularly re-evaluate the decisions that we make on a day-to-day basis, and take necessary actions to mitigate the problems that may have arisen due to our lack of care.

As a software engineer, it is my responsibility to not just focus on the latest and greatest tools and technologies out there, but to take a retrospective look at the things that I have built. It is to consider the possibility of paying back the debt that I or my team have accumulated since the decision was made. It is also crucial for me to re-evaluate my skills as an engineer, and to rebuild or repair my knowledge of engineering.

Another excerpt from the interview which I admired was the story of how Steve Jobs surrounded himself with poetry, music, and art, to churn out ideas. It makes me think about diversifying the kind of information that I feed myself.

Another story of Steve Jobs that I revere is that he loved picking other people’s brains. He used to call people every day to ask them about the things that they were thinking about, the kind of music that they were listening to, the places they were visiting, and more. This gave him the perspective that he is not the only one with interesting ideas. He is surrounded by the very people who built the world that we live in. I, too, shall aspire to accommodate this aspect of curiosity into my life. I am not particularly sure how to, but hopefully, if you have any ideas, you can share them with me.

Here’s the interview that I am referring to:

Last but not the least, I found this picture of Steve Jobs just being himself, sitting in a park. He is not looking at an iPhone in his palms, he is just enjoying the little things in life.