Inside Google: Innovation and Collaboration


Kai-Fu Lee the president of Google China gave a presentation in Seattle about future of Google in 2007. The video can be watched here(53 min). It gave some wonderful insights in the working of Google and how it is expanding in China. Although these days the story is quite different for Google in China, but still the presentation gives a good look inside the search giant.

How did Google Build a Great Team
1. Hire Great People
2. Focus on Strengths
3. Uncover PR oppurtunities
4. Focus on Google Values
5. Localize Jobs
6. Make it fun

R&D Centres and Innovation
Google has opened 30 R&D Centers in 3 Years which span across Europe, Russia, Eatern Europe, Israel, US, Canada, Australia, India, Japan and China

How does Google do it?
Avoid Redundancy - All projects, milestones and progress are kept in the PDB(Product Database). Before you do anything, you search if someone elese is not doing it. If they are then you can maybe do it together.
Reasonable Work Distribution - Each R&D drives a major project. Collaboration is encouraged, a project is divided between two R&D(each responsible for a component of the project instead of each doing parts of the same component)
Communication - This is key. Every Conference Room has Video tele-conferencing units, lot of executive travel, mailing lists, meetings and gatherings are scheduled.
Clear Top-Down Directions - "Organize the World's Information", that is the primarry message to be kept in mind when approaching any project. There is also a Rule of 70:20:10 to focus employee time. (70% Search and Ads, 20% Related to Search,10% Brand New Search)

Google's Innovation Model

Hire people who are innovative and get stuff done. People who come up with ideas and have strong engineering skills at the same time. Management's job is to merely recruit those kind of people(innovator+engineer=Googler).

Google Product Life Cycle
1.  Employee Idea

2. Internal Democratic Voting System
3. If enough support people get together and build a prototype(using their 20% time)
4. Release for internal Use
5. If successful, then Google Labs
6. If successful, then Beta Release.
7. Keep evolving using Customer feedback

This was a look into the Search Giant and how it operates and innovates. This research was motivated by a book called Google Wants to Pay You which talks about how to use the Google Marketing Power to promote products. It made me curios to look more into Google and how does it manage to create a company which has helped normal people make money.

Anyways hope you have a better understanding of the force and domination of Google.

Related External Articles
- How Google Grows...and Grows...and Grows(fastcompany.com)
- A glimpse inside Google's secret sauce(cnet.com)
- Google's Culture of Innovation(innosight.com)
- Marissa Mayer on Google Innovation(curiouscatblog.net)

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