Why Wasn't Apple's Software Group a Design Organization?

Susan Kare was the only designer in a software group at Apple, so the group was not a design organization. She reported to the head of the software group, the same as anybody else. A software librarian worked there too and was not a programmer either, though she knew how to be a software librarian.

The slogan was that real programmers arrive just in time for lunch, and the days followed it. People got in around the end of the morning, about noon, piled into a few cars, and went out for lunch together. Stops included Vivi's, a Middle Eastern place in Cupertino, plus sushi and other places, and they talked about work. They came back and started around 1 or 2, then worked into the night, sometimes very late, with loud music on. A Defender machine was there. She is not really a gamer and did not play Defender, but there was Joust, a game with birds and egg waves. She thinks the feminine energy in the game is why she liked it. People played the games and listened to music.

She never felt as at home and creative in a workplace. The space was a cubicle rather than an office with a door, so she could bring things in, and people kept their own things around them.