Why did I get called a fuckchop?
Scott Forstall had these meetings with Steve every Tuesday, where Scott and team gave updates on things Steve wanted to know about. Sometimes these were fun, sometimes not. (imagine a small room full of anxious people.. [execs, UI guys, engineers] getting a call from steve's admin saying he was on his way. 'oh, and he's just coming back from the dentist, not in a good mood') This day in particular started light, with Steve laughing/incredulous about this insult he was called or had heard "fuckchop", and wtf did that mean anyway. (this is the way back machine here, so it's fuzzy) I was up to show what would become iChatAV, very early days. That still didn't excuse a bad demo. We talked about a couple things, and then I went to my office to get the party started. A few seconds in to the demo, my mic went dead - I could hear/see them, they could see but not hear me. Trying to debug during a demo is a rook move, but I did it anyway. He got agitated, and said something to the effect of "I think I've figured it out... you're a fuckchop!". It was meant to be funny.. or at least that's I say when I cry myself to sleep at night.
What was I doing wrong?
Well, plenty I'm sure! Anyone who had any dealings with Steve at any point eventually incurred his wrath. Just the way it was. You didn't get to that point however by being an idiot (or, 'fuckchop'). Steve always pushed the envelope, and that guaranteed you were going to fail at some point. That's good! If you don't fail, you're not trying hard enough. However, chalking up failure with a simple "oh well"... that's bad! He wanted you to take failing seriously. Or maybe he was having a bad day. Either way, you got the business.
I work for Geekli.st and was honestly surprised to see some of the achievements Andy Grignon was apart of. I honestly feel that is is people like him, not well known, but an important part of creating some of the things we love and use every day. Everyone hears about the big names, but it are the people you don't hear about that make stuff happen.
I also have some invites if anyone is wanting to get into the beta. It will work even if you have signed up and are waiting for beta.
