Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

qz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 498 posts

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#221

Post by dragonwriter »

api wrote: post #217
bane wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if this is because business borrowed something rather toxic from the post-1970s "postmodern" intellectual meltdown of the humanities? The worst kind of MBAbabble that I've endured over the years reminds me very much of postmodern literary criticism in its vapid, posturing use of language to hide the fact that the speaker is not actually saying anything. You described easily over 75% of the management textb…

In the USSR they were called apparatchiks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparatchik It's sort of funny how Soviet business culture actually is.

> It's sort of funny how Soviet business culture actually is.

Capitalist heirarchies look like state heirarchies in a system widely criticized as being "State Capitalism".

Funny to the people who think that the Soviet Union represents the polar opposite of capitalism, expected by the left-libertarians who noted that the Soviet Union recapitulated the features of capitalism central to the socialist critique of capitalism.

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#222

Post by jknightco »

orblivion wrote: post #127
Spooky23 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a management perspective, you're forgetting about the obvious: the less than productive people. The benefit of giving employees no- or few-strings attached time to work on whatever is clear. Things like GMail, Apple 1, etc. The "cost" is that people are doing things that don't necessarily contribute to the bottom line -- for every GMail, there are 1,000 low-impact ideas. When your ability to make money hand over…

And then consider that Google's hiring standards seem to have decreased as they need a lot of people and not just the best. Thus 20% of more average people's time is going to be a lot less valuable on average.

I don't think Google's hiring standards have decreased, they've just shifted their focus away from inaccurate signals such as where you went to University and what your GPA was there. One could argue that Google's hiring standards have actually increased, as they're now hiring people who can demonstrate an ability to perform instead of people who were able to get a pretty piece of paper from Stanford.

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#223

Post by hvs »

mattzito wrote: post #59
hvs wrote: post #39

Six months after he took the reins, Page announced that Google would adopt a “more wood behind fewer arrows” strategy that would put more of Google’s resources and employees behind a smaller number of projects. There's nothing more soul-crushing for an organization than a board of directors.

I think it's not unreasonable for senior management at a company to say, "Geez, you know, we have our fingers in too many pies". Sometimes their logic is sound - they're distractions, they're consuming resources that could be used on core business ideas, we can shift innovation to a focused group of our core innovators. And sometimes it's not sound - it's purely about the dollars and sense. But to argue that the boar…

My point is that they tend to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Killing an idea like 20% time because it'll save money in the short term while destroying a culture of innovation that can lead to gains in the future is precisely what I meant by "soul crushing."

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#224

Post by tmoertel »

dragonwriter wrote: post #211
tmoertel wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It boggles my mind, given the big money involved, why so many people continue to bet huge sums of cash on the proven short-term penny-wise/pound-foolish idiocy of MBA-think. A lot of this "idiocy" is in fact rational (if unethical) behavior. At many large companies, upper management is rewarded for short-term gains. In response, these managers adopt strategies that produce short-term gains. If these gains can be bo…

> A lot of this "idiocy" is in fact rational behavior. At many large companies, upper management is rewarded for short-term gains. The fact that microoptimizations that are harmful to the company in a broader perspective are rational on the part of individual mid-level managers working within the incentive framework provided by upper management , doesn't mean they aren't idiocy on the part of the upper management res…

I guess that conclusion would depend on whether the upper managers expected to better off (a) by staying at the same company for life or (b) by pumping the short-term returns and then using them as a shortcut to a better position at some other company, where the long-term consequences won't be felt.

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#225

Post by dekhn »

cenhyperion wrote: post #203
dekhn wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a lot of perks, including great food, but ultimately it comes down to: 1) awesome coworkers I learn from daily 2) access to infrastructure and few barriers 3) a competent IT team for corporate IT The combination of the three is rare in industry.

How awesome is the food?

I like it a lot. I eat about 10 meals a week there, have lost about 25 pounds, and I hate going out to restaurants because you have to pay and the food isn't as good.

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#226

Post by yesiamyourdad »

dekhn wrote: post #122

I am a Googler. I will only speak to my personal experience, and the experience of people around me: 20% time still exists, and is encouraged as a mechanism to explore exciting new ideas without the complexity and cost of a real product. My last three years were spent turning my 20% project into a product, and my job now is spent turning another 20% project into a product. There was never any management pressure from…

I work for a company that adopted 20% time a few years ago and the 120% time is true here as well. It probably works out to 110% time in our case, I can typically take a half day during the week and then nights & weekends. Really, I think the final paragraph is true anywhere. Every company has some cool data or infrastructure to play with and smart management encourages that hacking in a sensible fashion.

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#227

Post by Shooti »

deelowe wrote: post #81
api wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It boggles my mind, given the big money involved, why so many people continue to bet huge sums of cash on the proven short-term penny-wise/pound-foolish idiocy of MBA-think. I mean sure-- if your company is under cash flow pressure you have to pinch pennies. You have no choice. Spreadsheet says so, and spreadsheet's the boss. But if you're not, you should be investing and thinking long term cause the other guys proba…

I don't think the decision had anything to do with money. It's part of the whole "more wood behind fewer arrows" initiative. Essentially, a defrag. 20% time was seen as having created too much fragmentation with little benefit. Gmail was the only major success to come from the program. Also, Google has a separate team for working on skunk works style projects.

Google Now: http://memeburn.com/2013/03/from-a-20-project-to-googles-fut...

If IO 13 is to be believed its become an essential pillar of their current vision/roadmap for search (Answer, Converse, Anticipate).

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#228

Post by DFGSDFG »

VIOLATIONS MURDER IN WOMANS - SEXUAL ZONES ESTIMULATIONS WITH NANO COMPUTERS IN YOUR CHILDS.

TRILLONS OF IPs IN NANO COMPUTERS IN YOUR CELULAR NUCLEOUS BELIVE IT!!!. WE HAVE THE VIDEOS.

RAW MATERIAL FOR MAKING FOOD - INDUSTRIAL TALC - MONSATO 60% OF THE CORPORATIOSN IN THE WORLD SELL THIS TALC TO OTHER TO MAKE FOOD.

WHO IS THE BOYFRIEND OF YOU DAUGTHER.

VIOLATIONS MURDER IN WOMANS - SEXUAL ZONES ESTIMULATIONS WITH NANO COMPUTERS IN YOUR CHILDS.

TRILLONS OF IPs IN NANO COMPUTERS IN YOUR CELULAR NUCLEOUS BELIVE IT!!!. WE HAVE THE VIDEOS.

RAW MATERIAL FOR MAKING FOOD - INDUSTRIAL TALC - MONSATO 60% OF THE CORPORATIOSN IN THE WORLD SELL THIS TALC TO OTHER TO MAKE FOOD.

WHO IS THE BOYFRIEND OF YOU DAUGTHER.

HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA – DANILO ANDERSON VIDEOS TO HUMAN RETINS SOLD TO TRIBUNALS. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS – CICLICAL CICLYC TINKING FORCING YOU TO BELIVE IN FIXED FAKE IDEAS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#229

Post by DFGSDFG »

VIOLATIONS MURDER IN WOMANS - SEXUAL ZONES ESTIMULATIONS WITH NANO COMPUTERS IN YOUR CHILDS.

TRILLONS OF IPs IN NANO COMPUTERS IN YOUR CELULAR NUCLEOUS BELIVE IT!!!. WE HAVE THE VIDEOS.

RAW MATERIAL FOR MAKING FOOD - INDUSTRIAL TALC - MONSATO 60% OF THE CORPORATIOSN IN THE WORLD SELL THIS TALC TO OTHER TO MAKE FOOD.

WHO IS THE BOYFRIEND OF YOU DAUGTHER.

VIOLATIONS MURDER IN WOMANS - SEXUAL ZONES ESTIMULATIONS WITH NANO COMPUTERS IN YOUR CHILDS.

TRILLONS OF IPs IN NANO COMPUTERS IN YOUR CELULAR NUCLEOUS BELIVE IT!!!. WE HAVE THE VIDEOS.

RAW MATERIAL FOR MAKING FOOD - INDUSTRIAL TALC - MONSATO 60% OF THE CORPORATIOSN IN THE WORLD SELL THIS TALC TO OTHER TO MAKE FOOD.

WHO IS THE BOYFRIEND OF YOU DAUGTHER.

HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA – DANILO ANDERSON VIDEOS TO HUMAN RETINS SOLD TO TRIBUNALS. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS – CICLICAL CICLYC TINKING FORCING YOU TO BELIVE IN FIXED FAKE IDEAS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.comHUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com HUMAN RACE STUDIES IN VENEZUELA. SATELITAL SURVILLANCE IN VENEZUELA – NEURAL PATRONS – YOUR EXTRA THINKING SOLD TRIBUNALS. PEOPLE SOLD TO HUMAN RACE STUDIES. AUTORIZATED BY THE HAGE AUTORIZATED BY SECRETARY BAN KI MOON. http://www.mudpgi.blog.com

Re: Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

#230

Post by varelse »

endtime wrote: post #219
varelse wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While their standards have definitely dropped because they hired me in 2011, they then proceeded to assign hirees like myself to all the work no one else wanted to do around the googleplex. I suspect this was one of Larry's failed experiments because a whole bunch of the people I met were let go within a year. I personally fled the place after a couple months of trying and failing to find work remotely suitable to my…

If you don't mind my asking, what role were you hired for? Were you part of an acquisition? I also joined in 2011 (SWE, normal hiring process) and my experience has been nearly the opposite of yours.

I've gone on about this elsewhere (search my comments), but it comes down to the utter stupidity of blind allocation for experienced engineers. There were projects that literally needed my exact skill set, and engineers on those teams did their best to try and open up a position for me on them, but middle-level management and HR blocked all their efforts.

I could have stayed a year and hoped for the best, but by then I suspect I would have been so embittered that I would have become the embodiment of a bad culture fit so I left before that happened because I had a great opportunity dropped right into my lap.

Now I suspect I am blacklisted at Google because a few people have tried to get me rehired now that such openings exist and they were immediately shut down by HR.

Whatever...

Post reply on HN