The Year the Internet Thought I Was MacKenzie Bezos

Post by franze » Sat, May 09, 2020, 1:17 PM UTC

gk1 wrote: post #9

franze wrote: post #3

Last year I had the opportunity to work with some Xooglers. According to their CVs an Linkedin they were with Google for a year or two. All with job titles that trim down to project managers. All very junior. Still, considering that Google only hires the best of the best I expected to work with ambitious, clever people. They were the worst. The showed me graphs, fancy presentations and project plans in some saas tool…

Saying “the late Balmer” suggests he died. He is still alive.

Post by russell_h » Sat, May 09, 2020, 1:26 PM UTC

franze wrote: post #10

muglug wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not entirely certain that your anecdata about ex-Google project managers (who only lasted a year there) has much bearing on this article.

It's anecdotal. The question behind it is: "How does such obvious broken features like ’featured snippets for phone number searches' make it into production?" Obviously there are working lots of very clever people at Google, so why is Google putting out so much subpar products and features? Weak middle management is my explanation, there might be others.

Post by franze » Sat, May 09, 2020, 1:34 PM UTC

russell_h wrote: post #13

franze wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's anecdotal. The question behind it is: "How does such obvious broken features like ’featured snippets for phone number searches' make it into production?" Obviously there are working lots of very clever people at Google, so why is Google putting out so much subpar products and features? Weak middle management is my explanation, there might be others.

Junior project managers aren’t “middle management”, they’re probably not people managers at all.

Post by lonelappde » Sat, May 09, 2020, 2:17 PM UTC

dessant wrote: post #14

mxz3000 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my (probably naive) point of view this does seem like a useful feature for users. If you can get an accurate answer for your query without clicking on a link or having to grep the linked page for the answer that's a win in my book and a time save for users. I guess an issue arises when the snippet is _not_ correct. But in my personal experience, the snippets are usually pretty helpful/accurate

Snippets are indeed a useful feature to have, but Google should share some of the ad revenue it generates with the publishers of the featured content snippets.

Post by lonelappde » Sat, May 09, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

remote_phone wrote: post #16

The fact that Google doesn’t immediately change bad data for queries is extremely scary to me. Misinformation from a query should be a civil offense, similar to libel or slander. They are effectively causing disruption in lives these days and I’m perfectly okay with Google being sued directly for spreading misinformation. If their algorithm doesn’t work, it shouldn’t be a public, they can’t just say “nope sorry that’…