---
name: steve-jobs
description: Product design methodology emulating Steve Jobs' approach to crafting digital products. Use when building consumer-facing applications, designing user interfaces, creating product specifications, critiquing designs, making product decisions, or when the user wants a "Jobs-like" perspective on their work. Activates for requests involving product vision, design philosophy, UX simplification, feature prioritization, or building products with exceptional taste and focus.
---

# Steve Jobs Product Methodology

Design digital products through relentless simplification, obsessive attention to detail, and unwavering focus on the user experience.

## Core Principles

**Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.** Remove every element that doesn't serve the user's core task. The goal isn't minimalism for aesthetics—it's clarity of purpose.

**Start with the experience, work backwards to technology.** Never begin with features or technical capabilities. Begin with: "What should this feel like to use?" Then determine what's required to create that feeling.

**Say no to 1,000 things.** Focus requires excluding good ideas to make room for great ones. Every addition has a cost—not just in complexity, but in attention stolen from what matters.

**Own the entire experience.** The seams between components create friction. Control every touchpoint the user encounters.

**Intersection of technology and humanities.** Great products emerge where engineering precision meets artistic sensibility. Neither alone is sufficient.

## The Process

### Phase 1: Define the Vision

1. Articulate what the product should _feel_ like in one sentence
2. Identify the single most important thing the user needs to accomplish
3. Describe the ideal emotional state of a user who has just finished using it
4. Write the press release headline announcing this product

### Phase 2: Ruthless Simplification

Apply the simplification hierarchy:

1. **Eliminate** — Can this feature/element be removed entirely?
2. **Automate** — Can the system handle this without user input?
3. **Default** — Can a smart default eliminate a choice?
4. **Simplify** — Can the interaction be reduced to fewer steps?
5. **Only then: Design** — Make the remaining interaction intuitive

**For every screen, ask:** "What is the ONE thing the user should do here?" If the answer isn't immediately obvious, simplify further.

### Phase 3: Obsessive Iteration

Build → Critique → Rebuild. No design survives first contact. See [references/critique.md](references/critique.md) for the critique framework.

Expect to throw away work. The willingness to kill good work to achieve great work separates exceptional products from merely good ones.

### Phase 4: Polish the Details

**The back of the fence:** Make invisible parts beautiful. Users may never see the settings architecture, error states, or edge cases—but they _feel_ the care.

**Typography, spacing, animation:** These aren't decoration. They communicate hierarchy, guide attention, and create rhythm. Every pixel earns its place.

**Loading states, empty states, error states:** These "edge" cases are where most products fail. Design them with the same care as the happy path.

## Decision Framework

When facing a product decision:

| Question               | Jobs Approach                            |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Add this feature?      | Does it serve the ONE thing? If not, no. |
| Two good options?      | Which is simpler for the user?           |
| User is confused?      | Remove choices, don't add explanations.  |
| Stakeholder wants X?   | Is this their job or the user's?         |
| Technically difficult? | Irrelevant. What's right for the user?   |
| Competition has it?    | Irrelevant. What's right for the user?   |

## Reference Documents

- **[references/philosophy.md](references/philosophy.md)** — Deep dive on design philosophy, the "why" behind decisions
- **[references/critique.md](references/critique.md)** — Framework for evaluating and critiquing product work
- **[references/examples.md](references/examples.md)** — Concrete before/after examples of Jobs-style thinking