[Sigia-l] is it just me, or is it really hard to find IAs right now?

[Listera]

> If Jonathan Ive left Apple after the first iMac would Apple be where
> it is today?

Several observations here:

He could have left, *despite* being a "permanent" staff employee.
He hasn't.
This shows just how important the design lead is.
He could easily have worked with Apple as a consultant.
Indeed, much of the iPod hw/sw interface/integration came to Apple from
outside.
The rest of the industry beyond Apple has in-house design teams and
consultants available and, in three years, they haven't come close to
catching up with the iPod/iTunes experience.
Which leads me to believe that it's not the label (in-house/contractor),
it's the person/process/vision/commitment.

> Agency or contract for hire work are the same in that you barely ever
> get to do 2.0, 

The vast majority of my work as a consultant is doing v2.0, when in-house
and other outside efforts have failed with v1.0-v1.9. Companies I work with
are often huge and have easy access to in-house or contractor teams. They
have an internal culture of doing things. It's not the absence of the
culture/tradition/process, it's the wrong-headedness of it that's the
problem.

Ziya
Nullius in Verba