Google Character and Its Innovation Method

October 8, 2008

One of my two or three readers provided me with a link to a May 2007 write up about Google. The story is by Nimrod Kamer and called “The Google Stuff.” You can read the May 4, 2007, article here. The write up is an interview with Yoelle Maarek who was named the director of the Google R&D center in Haifa. Though some of the information may be dated, I found several points illuminating. I can’t summarize the entire piece. However, one passage struck me as particularly relevant as more and more organizations are trying to figure out how Google operates and what its infrastructure make it seemingly trivial for the company to do without warning or ramp up; to wit:

“A bunch of talented kids take a risk and it works out for them. This is what this company’s entire culture is all about – risks and boldness. “–Dr. Maarek
“The people that work here have to conceive and develop ideas and solve problems themselves”–Dr. Maarek
“Everything is instant. Everything is online and on the server. There are a lot of engineers and we all help one another. I report directly to the big boss of all the engineers in the US, without any intermediaries and without forms. Every programmer has genuine authority to take whatever he wants all the way.”–Dr. Maarek
“At Google, they hate hesitation, narrow-mindedness, and laziness, and they get angry about that. Waiting to be told what to do, that’s very non-Google handing down orders. Programmers exercise immense power, so as I said earlier, we have to careful who we recruit.”–Dr. Maarek

There’s more useful information in the write up, particularly about the broader cultural approach at Google. I will be including that information in my next for fee Google report for Infonortics Ltd. later this year. If you think you are a Google person, this article will help you muster your resolve to get a Googler to insert you into the hiring system.

Stephen Arnold, October 7, 2008

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Business strategy, Google, News, Technology

Comments

Comments are closed.

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.