[帮主说] 买洗衣机

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如果媒体业也有一家苹果公司,那应该就是《连线》杂志(Wired)了。它或许是为数不多,每个月翻开来,都给人一些惊喜,而且在很多地方宁肯选择争议性创新,也不愿重复常规打法的杂志。

不过,这杂志似乎跟乔布斯气场不和(其实乔布斯似乎也没有谁和,只有 Fortune 还能每两、三年采访他一次)。多年来,《连线》只采访过一次乔某人,还是1996年NeXT阶段。

访问者是 Gary Wolf,  Wired - a Romance(中译《〈连线〉传奇》)一书的作者。

在我看来,这里面最有趣的问题,是文章的最后一个问题:最近有什么好的设计启发过你?

乔布斯做了一个很长的回答:

Design is not limited to fancy new gadgets. Our family just bought a new washing machine and dryer. We didn't have a very good one so we spent a little time looking at them. It turns out that the Americans make washers and dryers all wrong. The Europeans make them much better - but they take twice as long to do clothes! It turns out that they wash them with about a quarter as much water and your clothes end up with a lot less detergent on them. Most important, they don't trash your clothes. They use a lot less soap, a lot less water, but they come out much cleaner, much softer, and they last a lot longer.

We spent some time in our family talking about what's the trade-off we want to make. We ended up talking a lot about design, but also about the values of our family. Did we care most about getting our wash done in an hour versus an hour and a half? Or did we care most about our clothes feeling really soft and lasting longer? Did we care about using a quarter of the water? We spent about two weeks talking about this every night at the dinner table. We'd get around to that old washer-dryer discussion. And the talk was about design.

We ended up opting for these Miele appliances, made in Germany. They're too expensive, but that's just because nobody buys them in this country. They are really wonderfully made and one of the few products we've bought over the last few years that we're all really happy about. These guys really thought the process through. They did such a great job designing these washers and dryers. I got more thrill out of them than I have out of any piece of high tech in years.

似乎是有必要完整翻译下来的:

设计并不局限于别致的新玩意儿。我们家刚刚买了一个新的洗衣机。我们以前的洗衣机不怎么样,所以我们用了点时间了解它们。结果是,美国人造的洗衣机根本不对路,欧洲人的产品就好多了,但欧洲的洗衣机又需要两倍的时间!但是呢,它们大概只需要美国同类产品1/4的水,而衣服上残留的清洁剂也少得多。最重要的是,它们不会毁坏你的衣服。它们用了少得多的肥皂、少得多的水,而它们洗出来的衣服干净的多、柔软的多,也能多穿些日子。

于是我们家用了些时间讨论:什么是我们希望取舍的?最终我们谈了很多有关设计的事情,同时也有很多涉及我们家的价值观。我们真的在意是在一个小时内洗完衣服,还是一个半小时?我们是否真的在意衣服穿起来极为柔软,并耐久?我们是否在意用更少的水?我们用了大概两周的时间,每天晚上在餐桌上讨论这些事。我们围绕这个话题反复讨论,而谈的就是关于设计。

我们最终买了德国的Miele电器的洗衣机。它们可够贵的,但这也是因为美国没有人买它。它们造工精良,算得上是过去几年里我们买过的让人愉悦的少数产品之一。它的创造者真的想明白了。他们在设计洗衣机上干的漂亮,比我在过去几年里看到的任何高科技产品都更爽。

是的,我们早就知道,乔布斯是个很好的提问者。在商业问题上,无论从产品细节层面,还是从宏观战略层面,他都能够非常用力的去问出一些关键问题来。但看了这段对话,我简直有点感觉怪怪的:他在生活中也这么较真,刨根问底?

但反过来想:如果乔布斯不是持续的培养自己独立思考的思维能力,他真的能在商业问题上想出新意来?你看,为了买一台洗衣机的事情,他竟然持续的和家里人纠缠了两周时间。显然,这上面他那些非常有逻辑的问题,是在两周时间内逐渐打磨形成的。

那么,也就不难想见,当我们看到乔布斯发出一些非常独特的见解,或者苹果做出一些跳跃式的前进,那后面究竟要酝酿多少思索了。

而且,让我觉得非常有趣的一点是,乔布斯被问到一个关于设计的问题,却从用户的角度做了回答——这跟他平时做产品,会把自己定位为用户进行思考,应该是暗合的。

前段时间跟一个朋友聊天时说起,这世界有两种很了不起的企业家,一种是从组织结构层面展开思考,一种是从产品细节角度展开思考,重点是,都能够很到位,很有体系。前者的代表,比如韦尔奇、桑迪·威尔、柳传志,后者的代表,就是乔布斯、史玉柱、马化腾。这两条路其实殊途同归,因为他们最终需要寻求的,都是一个让自己内心安顿的外在状态。

那么,能够找到自己的思索切入点,并能够一路深入下去,或许是一个非常重要的事情。