Ask anyone who has worked for me over the years, hell even people who made it to the interview stage, and they’ll probably tell you that “attention to detail” is the thing that I harp on about the most. I really think it’s one of THE most important things to be proficient in (high attention to detail, effective communication skills and pride in your work are the three main qualities I look for in staff). These are often little things that add up – spellchecks and proof-reading your emails, a quick thank you message after someone has done you a small favour, reading up about a company before showing up to the interview, that sort of thing.
There’s one story I read recently about Steve Jobs that prompted this entry. To me, like so many others, Jobs exhibited a lot of the qualities that I aspire to, and one of his great strengths was fanatical attention to detail. Vic Gundotra (the man behind Google+) tells a story about a conversation with Steve Jobs one Sunday morning back in 2008. Gundotra was at a religious service and Jobs left a message for him to call back urgently. Gundotra recalls the conversation that followed:
“Hey Steve — this is Vic,” I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your call earlier. I was in religious services, and the caller ID said unknown, so I didn’t pick up.”
Steve laughed. He said, “Vic, unless the Caller ID said ‘GOD’, you should never pick up during services”.
I laughed nervously. After all, while it was customary for Steve to call during the week upset about something, it was unusual for him to call me on Sunday and ask me to call his home. I wondered what was so important?
“So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow,” said Steve.
“I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”
The CEO of Apple, the great visionary who changed the world in more ways than one, was worried about the shade of yellow in the second “O” in Google. There’s your lesson on where strong attention to detail gets you!
“It was a lesson I’ll never forget,” wrote Gundotra. “CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.”
Dr Alan McCabe is the CEO of MySoftwarePrototype, an innovative software company that specialises in developing business ideas into software prototypes or working applications. Alan himself is a former Qld Young Entrepreneur of the Year and current COO of financial software company Fern Software. If you have any questions or comments please get in touch!
My Software Prototype 