7. The Programmer's Pattern of Logic
Itoi To me, it seems that your methodology has been consistent as a programmer, and as president of Nintendo.
Iwata You think so?
Itoi When the MOTHER 2 (EarthBound) project was about to fall apart, you came in to help, and this is what you said to us. "It will take 2 years to fix this keeping what you have built up. If we start from scratch, it will take only a year. What do you say?"
Iwata Yes, I remember. (laugh)
Itoi We decided to start from scratch. You knew this was the best choice from the beginning though, didn't you?
Iwata If I were to choose the best way at that time, yes, I would've started from scratch. But I wasn't in the project from the start, so I would've respected whatever decision you made. My task was to pull the project back together. Anyway, I think it was possible to do either way.
Itoi You thought it was best to start from scratch, and still you would've have gone either way?
Iwata It was important not to ruin the atmosphere of the project team. You can't show up all of a sudden and destroy everything people have created until then. People aren't persuaded by such ways. The positive atmosphere of the team is crucial in order to succeed. I decided it was best to present the team with suggestions, and have them take the pick.
Itoi Now I understand. When you joined the team the first thing you did was to make tools. There were huge problems left unsolved, but you didn't touch them. It seemed to us you weren't doing anything productive, but actually you were creating tools to solve those problems.
Iwata Right.
Itoi (to the staffs) What he did was really interesting. He didn't try to solve the problems one by one. He made a tool, and said to us "Here's a tool that you all can use", and assigned us which parts to build with that tool. Now that the tool was there, all we had to do was to get down to work.
Iwata Yes, I remember.
Itoi Experiencing those times, I see you doing the same as president of Nintendo. You made a new department when Nintendo DS came out, right?
Iwata Yes. There already was a department that was in charge of Nintendo DS, but I made a new one, and assigned them with an important task. This department later designs games such as "Brain Age" and "DS English Training". I didn't foresee this at the time though.
Itoi When I heard about this later on, I thought it was the same way you put MOTHER 2 (EarthBound) back on track.
Iwata Well, not so much of a variation there (laugh), or you can take the positive side and say that there's consistency.
Itoi Actually, I don't believe that people can have that much of a variation in their logical patterns.
Iwata Maybe not.
Itoi I think you established your logical pattern as a programmer, and have been making use of it ever since.
Iwata Maybe. Programming is pure logic. It won't work if there's an inconsistency in the logic. The errors aren't produced inside the system. They are produced from the outside. If the system doesn't work, it's definitely your fault. The funny thing is that every programmer thinks his logic will work when they finish coding a program. It never does, but at that moment, everyone believes there's no error in the logic they have written, and confidently hits the "Enter" key.
Itoi (to Sato, the system engineer) Is that true?
Sato Very true. (laugh)
Iwata The world of programming is all logic. If it doesn't work, you're the one to blame. I also apply this to communication among people. If my message isn't conveyed as intended, I search for the reason on my side, and not blame the other.
Itoi Ah.
Iwata If it doesn't work, you're the reason for it. If there's miscommunication between someone, I don't blame them for not understanding. There are always factors on my side. Having been a programmer enables me to think this way.
Itoi All in all, logical patterns can't be learned through books.
Iwata You can't really learn something if it's not related to what you do. Handling troubles in your project is much a higher priority than trying to study something irrelevant to you.
Itoi Probably because it gives you that stimulus pleasure, too.
Iwata I like flying down with an umbrella to where people seem lost. Just like how it was with the "MOTHER 2" (EarthBound) project. (laugh)
Itoi (to the staffs) You know.... I think he really enjoys it.
All (laugh)
