Google and Its New Management Method: Intrapreneurs
April 7, 2011
I hated the word “entrepreneurship” when I first heard it a long, long time ago. It is fitting for this new Google management method. First, navigate to “A New Perk At Google: Run Your Own Startup Within The Company.” Read or skim the article. Now think about this passage:
Google is desperate to keep good engineers from leaving, but big money isn’t the only carrot it’s dangling in front of them. In some cases, Google is letting them form their own independent businesses within the company — with almost no oversight for two years.
Will this work? In my bug ridden world in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, I don’t think so. Three reasons:
- Google wants to keep engineers. But the engineers want to do some cool stuff for themselves and make a difference or a killing. Assume the idea work and the start up booms. Sounds great. Odds probably are long. So for 100 start ups, maybe the GOOG gets one winner and bunch of okays, and 75 to 80 percent losers. Lots of lost staff time if the management method grows big fast. So there is a productivity issue.
- Many start ups are not sure what they are starting. So lots of idle time and maybe slow ramps. Hey, if someone is providing food, a bean bag, and Odwallas, what’s the big rush? Urgency may not be the emotion du jour.
- For years, Google’s secret innovation engine was R&D from the 20 percent plan. Most looks at the Google skipped over the downside of the 20 percent free time method. Now there’s the no fail start up method. The difference between now and 2006 is that cost control is getting to look like a big job even for the cash rich Google.
Worth watching. If it works, hey, go with it. If it flops, it eliminates one management angle for Facebook to try.
Stephen E Arnold, April 8, 2011
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