Google and Its Mistakes: Five and Counting
November 18, 2010
In early November, Marissa Mayer discussed Google’s biggest mistakes. According to Mayer, they are Google Wave, launching Gmail on April Fools Day, and shutting down DejaNews with no alternative for users. Now from Piaw Na we have “Five Google Engineering Management Mistakes.” These include sub-par management training; incentives for team leaders leading to poor management practices; recognition tactics that bred sour feelings among coworkers; a “heavy interviewer bump” that in practice led to employee cynicism; and skewed promotion practices wherein promotion decisions are made by committee and aren’t based on accomplishments. Na comments that “At its current size, Google is still more desirable an employer for engineers than Oracle, Cisco, Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, and many other well known names” and that this desirability makes these mistakes more remarkable, not less.
Moving up the mistakes chart: Paying employees to stay on the job is an HR event. What happens if an employee takes the dough and quits for “personal reasons.” Heh heh.
However, if Google has made just 8 mistakes in 12 years, that’s a pretty good track record. Update: the news about Google’s offering one employee $3.5 million to keep working at Google, not jumping to the IPO-intense Facebook environment is moving to the list and moving up. What’s that Beatle lyric? “Can’t buy me love”?
Laura Amos, November 18, 2010
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