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How Google Works

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Re: How Google Works

#61

Post by nobbyclark »

WoodenChair wrote: post #37

I found these slides rather shallow. Smart, creative people are the best employees? Who knew! The Internet led to massive disruptions in traditional businesses? Wow! Sorry for my cynicism/sarcasm, but I see the book campaign as Eric Schmidt positioning himself for his next role. He's trying to secure his personal Google legacy as he gets ready for an exit. I can't imagine it's all that enticing to go from CEO to chai…

As smart creatives I dont think we're the target audience but rather decision makers at established businesses who are seeing their markets getting disrupted.

Re: How Google Works

#62

Post by paulojreis »

paganel wrote: post #41
sz4kerto wrote: post #31

This is not how Google works, this is a PR product -- it's full of fashionable and/or trivial things that we see on various blogs every single day. I don't see why is this interesting to the HN crowd, but well, who am I to judge this. :)

I think it's related to a book written by Schmidt and that Rosenberg guy, I think I just read a review about it a couple of weeks ago (here's the review: http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21620056-search... ). As for the presentation itself, maybe it's because I'm becoming more and more grumpier with age and haven't drunk my coffee yet, but there's something to be said about today's langue de bois , with e…

Yeah. They are criticizing the jargon and methods of "big business", yet the language they use and the methods they promote are what all big businesses advocate today (even if only as PR stunts).

I work at a telco, so just imagine the amount of BS I hear being touted (but not applied, of course) everyday... It's no different than this - smart employees, innovation, moving fast,... - just presented in a lousier fashion. :)

Re: How Google Works

#63

Post by ethnomusicolog »

galago wrote: post #29
ethnomusicolog wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the demographic constituency who can play the game is expanding. It's getting easier to hack your socio-economic status.

The guys that started Google came from Stanford, the Facebook guy, Harvard. The Dropbox guys, MIT. Is there someone who went to Bunker Hill Community College or its many equivaltents who was able create a majorly disruptive business? I don't want to sound like Reddit, but link to something.

I am not trying to argue how the game is played. But take the google founder. Here is the son of a computer science academic migrant, who kind of hacked his way into corporate power, without needing to show all the ruthlessnes of the past centuries titans. Now you could say that he was more privileged than your average joe. And It's true. But he is less privileged that you usually needed to be to attaign that level of success. It's true of him, true of Larry Ellison, and countless untold stories. And with them, of all the people they brought into the adventure. Te be fair, It has always been true that self-made giant could come from any avenue of life. The difference is that it has never been so well documented.

Re: How Google Works

#64

Post by acqq »

DonPellegrino wrote: post #16
q_revert wrote: post #5

I started work at google pretty recently, and expressed an interest in working on a particular project. I made some notes about some of my ideas, and was putting some stuff together to show to one of the teams, to get some input before prototyping. I asked a senior team member to have a look at the notes I had made, and see if they were ready to show to the wider team. His advice? "Go build something, then we can hav…

I was under the impression that the work load at Google is so heavy that it is almost impossible to get "20% time" anymore. During what time did you work on your idea? Are they freeing you of all responsibilities to build your prototype or do they expect you to do it in your free time and then donate it to the company? Thanks, I'm very curious about this aspect of Google's culture.

Skeptical view of 20% time:

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-12-19/

Re: How Google Works

#65

Post by wnm »

WoodenChair wrote: post #37

I found these slides rather shallow. Smart, creative people are the best employees? Who knew! The Internet led to massive disruptions in traditional businesses? Wow! Sorry for my cynicism/sarcasm, but I see the book campaign as Eric Schmidt positioning himself for his next role. He's trying to secure his personal Google legacy as he gets ready for an exit. I can't imagine it's all that enticing to go from CEO to chai…

>I found these slides rather shallow

Really? I thought they were enticing. This is a slideshow promoting a book, so I'm not expecting great insights or data, but rather an overview of what subjects the book is touching on. Most of those ideas are very abstract, and I think they did a great job of visualizing them. I like this slide for example: http://de.slideshare.net/ericschmidt76/how-google-works-fina... And from the book I would now expect there to be one chapter about how to implement a culture where everybody feels intitled to raise their opion and submit new ideas.

>Who knew!

From my limited work experience I would say companies still make the same mistakes, and haven't catched up on a lot of very very obvious ideas...

Re: How Google Works

#66

Post by rmsaksida »

plainOldText wrote: post #57

One line from the slides (33) - "Optimize for growth, not revenue." I'm curious, why is everyone nowadays so obsessed with growth? Is growth really that much more important than revenue? What if you strike a balance between the two? I remember reading what one of the WhatsApp's founders once said: "[..] we focused on business sustainability and revenue rather than getting big fast [..]" And it looks like they did alr…

There was a post about Zoho just yesterday, a company which always focused in sustainability and revenue and did very well. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8456398)

Re: How Google Works

#67

Post by q_revert »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #23
q_revert wrote: post #5

I started work at google pretty recently, and expressed an interest in working on a particular project. I made some notes about some of my ideas, and was putting some stuff together to show to one of the teams, to get some input before prototyping. I asked a senior team member to have a look at the notes I had made, and see if they were ready to show to the wider team. His advice? "Go build something, then we can hav…

What academic background is that? I'm curious.

I'm a physicist (semiconductor lasers), now doing tech support, it's a big change for me, but so far it's been great

Re: How Google Works

#68

Post by balazsdavid987 »

grayclhn wrote: post #35
balazsdavid987 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If they are so smart and creative, why do they need Google? Many things cannot be created individually, no matter how smart and creative you are. Think of pyramids, space ships, - or even GMail. It's about leveraging the resources of a big company. And not to forget the low risk: you build something while you are on salary vs. building something for equity that may or may not worth dollars in the end.

Just a tip: you don't want to be one of the people building a pyramid. You may want to think of a non-enslavement-and-death example when you explain why somewhere might be a good place to work. I can just imagine the recruiter's pitch now...

I've cited pyramids as an example of what collaborative work can lead to. Of course it's not like slavery, but there's a lot of grinding going on even at Google, they just call it "passion for work".

Re: How Google Works

#69

Post by hueving »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #56
grayclhn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a tip: you don't want to be one of the people building a pyramid. You may want to think of a non-enslavement-and-death example when you explain why somewhere might be a good place to work. I can just imagine the recruiter's pitch now...

Why? That slave labour was used to build pyramids is a popular but unfounded belief. There is evidence suggesting that some pyramids were built by well-paid government contractors. Also apparently American-type slavery was a historical abberation. A typical slave in the past was not unlike a salaried employee today. He was well-treated, earned good money for his services and was able to free himself after accumulatin…

>free himself after accumulating enough of it

If you don't think enslavement to a particular person is worse than working now, you need a reality check.

Re: How Google Works

#70

Post by rmsaksida »

The presentation is a little silly, yes, but if there's any truth to it - if Google actually works this way - that could make all the difference.

There are places that simply don't give a shit about "smart creative" types, and there are places that claim to have a Google-like culture but in practice are just regular old boss-centric jobs. Every CEO wants to be like Google, but very few actually commit to it.

It usually starts like this: the CEO wants to have smart creatives and delegate decisions. But then he thinks about all that hard-won money he'll be throwing at an employee, so he hires someone middle level or fresh out of college "with huge potential". Then he systematically micromanages the guy, because he just can't make that jump. The poor soul either abides (not so smart creative after all) or quickly runs out of steam (this guy will quickly start looking at job posts). Eventually the new hire disappoints in some way and the CEO cynically complains about the failed promises of the cool tech company culture which he tried to implement.

Seeing a very successful company like Google follow these principles, and win, might influence decision makers in a positive way.

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