Sequencing Apple's DNA

Sequencing Apple's DNA

by Patrick Corsi, Dominique Morin
Released January 2016
Publisher(s): Wiley-ISTE
ISBN: 9781848219199

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Book description

This book aims to extract the "molecular genes" leading to craziness! Geniuses are the ones who are "crazy enough to think they can change the world" and boldly go where no one has gone before. Where no past habit and usage are available, there is no proof of viability, as nobody has done it yet, or even imagined it, and no roadmap for guidance or market study has come up with it.

The authors call upon Leonardo Da Vinci, the Renaissance genius, who as strange as it seems, shared many traits of personality with that of Steve Jobs, in terms of the ways of performing. Da Vinci helps in understanding Jobs, and hence Apple, with his unique way of designing radically novel concepts, which were actually quite crazy for his time.

In order to shed light on a special creative posture, the indomitable sense of specifying undecidable objects – a hallmark of the late Steve Jobs – is what led the authors to match it with a specific design innovation theory. A real theory, backed by solid mathematical proof, exists and can account for the business virtue of a prolific ability to move into unknown crazy fields! The authors postulate that, by bringing the power of C-K theory to crack open a number of previous observations made about Apple’s methods, it is possible to identify most of the genes of this company.

The authors analyze how and why an Apple way of doing business is radically different from standard business practices and why it is so successful. Genes are a measure of the entity at hand and can encourage past business education routine approaches, then become transferable across the spectrum of the socio-economic world.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Preface
    1. Setting a new stage
    2. Why is this book different?
    3. Bridging an Apple capacity for craziness and design innovation
    4. How to use this book
    5. The power is in the DNA
    6. How did the authors come up with it?
    7. How is the book structured?
  6. Introduction
  7. PART 1: From Insanely Successful Episodes
    1. 1 Sequencing the First Segments of Apple’s DNA
      1. 1.1. The gene, domain and cultural bias
      2. 1.2. Nine DNA segments of rare importance
    2. 2 On Risk Taking
      1. 2.1. Where is the gap?
      2. 2.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
      3. 2.3. The genes
    3. 3 Product Design
      1. 3.1. Where is the gap?
      2. 3.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
    4. 4 Market Studies
      1. 4.1. Where is the gap?
      2. 4.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
    5. 5 Giving up Some Fights
      1. 5.1. The chasm
      2. 5.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
    6. 6 Entering New Markets
      1. 6.1. The chasm
      2. 6.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
    7. 7 Apple, the Learning Company
      1. 7.1. The chasm
      2. 7.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
    8. 8 On Research and Development
      1. 8.1. The chasm
      2. 8.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
    9. 9 On Company Acquisition
      1. 9.1. The chasm
      2. 9.2. Amplifying the gap
      3. 9.3. Progressing the gap
    10. 10 The Manager, the Software and the Process
      1. 10.1. The chasm
      2. 10.2. Developing the chasm
  8. PART 2: Emergence of a Brand: From Failures to Everyday Situations (In Search of Exclusive Value)
    1. 11 Failures Left Behind
      1. 11.1. Why failures?
      2. 11.2. Failure dissolves in time
      3. 11.3. A basket of historical failures
    2. 12 A Cornucopia of Commerce Situations
      1. 12.1. Commercial policy
      2. 12.2. Asking customers
      3. 12.3. Forecasting and strategy
      4. 12.4. Grabbing a trend
      5. 12.5. Communicating
      6. 12.6. Getting incomparable value
      7. 12.7. Making something profitable
      8. 12.8. Going after the enterprise market
      9. 12.9. Expenses versus returns
      10. 12.10. Management to commitment to product
    3. 13 Emergence of a Brand
      1. 13.1. The chasm
      2. 13.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
  9. PART 3: Importing Apple’s Genes into Transferable Knowledge (In Evidence of Deeper Gaps)
    1. 14 On Structure and Contents
      1. 14.1. The chasm
      2. 14.2. Developing the chasm
    2. 15 You Said Reality? Which Reality?
      1. 15.1. The chasm
      2. 15.2. Developing the chasm
      3. 15.3. It’s all about perception
    3. 16 Combining the Genes
      1. 16.1. Taking stock of a flat list of genes
      2. 16.2. Setting the stage toward a combined dynamics
    4. 17 Evolving Competition
      1. 17.1. Cracking open the notion of “competition”
      2. 17.2. Designing an expanded understanding “competition”
    5. 18 Evolving Innovation
      1. 18.1. Cracking open the notion of “innovation”
      2. 18.2. Designing an expanded understanding of “innovation”
    6. 19 A Company Under (Dynamic) Tension
      1. 19.1. Tension is a co-evolving dynamic
      2. 19.2. Tension is a dynamic toward futures
      3. 19.3. Walking the way
    7. 20 Overcoming Common Blocking Points
      1. 20.1. The need for an innovation molecule
      2. 20.2. A need to revisit risk-taking
  10. Conclusion
  11. APPENDICES
    1. Appendix 1: Apple Genes List
    2. Appendix 2: On the True Nature of Software
      1. A2.1. Software role, software people role
      2. A2.2. Software, an immaterial product
      3. A2.3. Software development activities – the CMM model
      4. A2.4. Software people productivity
    3. Appendix 3: On Purposefully Recalling Leonardo Da Vinci Design Innovation Codes
      1. A3.1. Introduction
      2. A3.2. Where a Leonardo inventor and designer shows the C-K way
      3. A3.3. Create by starting from an empty space, then connect the dots
      4. A3.4. On the value of the analysis
      5. A3.5. Wrapping up the key elements of relevance to Apple
    4. Appendix 4: Further Tips in Designing Innovations with C-K Theory
      1. A4.1. Tracking dominant designs above all
      2. A4.2. Why they (still) exist
      3. A4.3. Why they still work (less and less)
      4. A4.4. What would an industry breaker do?
      5. A4.5. Conclusion
    5. Appendix 5: Tips on Deepening Understanding by Using Trialectics
      1. A5.1. Introducing trialectics
      2. A5.2. Using trialectics
      3. A5.3. Operating trialectics on the concept of “Brand”
      4. A5.4. Articulating trialectics with C-K theory
      5. A5.5. Conclusion
    6. Appendix 6: Selected Quotes from Steve Jobs
  12. Bibliography
    1. Books about Apple
    2. Complementary references
    3. Sites of interest
    4. Further reading
    5. References specific to Appendix 3
    6. Other references
  13. Index
  14. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Sequencing Apple's DNA
  • Author(s): Patrick Corsi, Dominique Morin
  • Release date: January 2016
  • Publisher(s): Wiley-ISTE
  • ISBN: 9781848219199