We all know that Apple designers have it pretty rough under the watchful eye of Steve Jobs, but what steps do they actually have to go through to get these products finalized? BusinessWeek interviewed Michael Lopp, Senior engineering manager at Apple,and he gives a pretty in-depth overview of the rigorous design process that goes on at Apple.

1. Perfect mockups. Yeah, there aren't any functional parts in these products, but the fake stuff has to be as genuine as the finalized ones. That probably means working apps, no buttons falling off, perfect measurements, and so on.

2. Start with 10 designs, dwindle them to 1. Or as BusinessWeek calls it, 10 to 3 to 1.

3. "Go Crazy Sessions." Two meetings a week, designers are encouraged to think freely, no holds barred, nothing is impossible, you get the point.

4. "Who Doesn't Want a Pony?" This is basically what Lopp describes as Senior Managers acting like Microsoft employees: I want this, I want that. The designers, who take their ideas from the "Go Crazy Meetings", try to turn outrageous demands into deliverables. Pretty cool.