Steve Jobs about designing of a a product

This is very similar to Richard Feynmann's thought process.

"Richard Feynman was fond of giving the following advice on how to be a genius. You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say: 'How did he do it? He must be a genius!'"

(from http://www.amazon.com/Indiscrete-Thoughts-Gian-Carlo-Rota/dp...)

I don't want to hijack this thread but this post reminded me of two small details I enjoyed that were in the photograph of Steve Jobs's home office (Diana Walker, 2004).

One, it was delightfully messy. I say delightfully because I had expected it to be clear and minimalist, especially being that he must have prearranged to be photographed. It looked like the desk of someone who was busy doing stuff, not just thinking about doing stuff.

Secondly, there were a large number of harmonicas on it, presumably in different keys. Steve had made his love of music well known but I had never seen any evidence that he created music himself. I know have visions of him tooting away on these as he worked. It also makes me wonder if he played with Garageband.

The 30 second video of this quote is here http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1277081754001_...