I totally agree!

@manton There are also stages when hiring folks who are power users with fair skills vs hiring high skills who aren't users. Not that either one is better than the other, but it can be easy for the former group to forget what we take for granted when working with the latter group.

@manton I suppose another way of saying it is that I'm okay if the CEO isn't a power user if 1. They realize that, 2. Have a lot of people around them who are and 3. They listen to that group.

I don't get the sense that is true in the context you're writing about, but I think that can exist.

@manton I get the feeling Tim Cook doesn’t love computers…

@kraft That sounds reasonable to me too. It’s great if the CEO is just as passionate about the product as the users, but the right leader can still be effective as a non-user.

@Gte @marcoarment @manton Tim Cook likes selling widgets. He is not a technologist.

This reminds me of an anecdote I remember from reading Daring Fireball back in 2010 when antennagate was a thing. The PR on that one got so bad that Apple’s top executives had to hold a press conference about it. Apple also had to give away bumper cases to mollify users.

One reporter asked the execs what cases they used, and the execs pulled their iPhones out of their pockets to show the answers.

Gruber commented that this is a demonstration that Apple’s top brass used the company products. Which is part of what made the company great.

Whereas I often think that nobody in authority at Apple today uses email. They have administrative assistants to read email for them, and just forward the most important messages. This is why Apple Mail is mediocre.

@marcoarment If Tim Cook doesn’t love computers, that explains the Vision Pro. John Sculley didn’t love computers and he cooked up the Newton. The Vision Pro is Cook’s Newton.

not only a blog hosting platform, but all apps in general. For me, it is very important to know that the founder, developer, CEO, really use the apps they offer to me.