Apple design process

Some interesting insight on the Apple design process outlined in a presentation at SXSW by Michael Lopp (by way of Apple Insider).

What is really interesting is this part of the process:

Paired Design Meetings
This was really interesting. Every week, the teams have two meetings. One in which to brainstorm, to forget about constraints and think freely. As Lopp put it: to “go crazy”. Then they also hold a production meeting, an entirely separate but equally regular meeting which is the other’s antithesis. Here, the designers and engineers are required to nail everything down, to work out how this crazy idea might actually work. This process and organization continues throughout the development of any app, though of course the balance shifts as the app progresses. But keeping an option for creative thought even at a late stage is really smart.

Where you open up people’s thinking (going crazy) and let their imaginations run wild, and then focus on what can actually be delivered. It is hard to see each process not feeding into the other.