Google Solves Management Problem: Okay, Employees, You Win
June 2, 2018
I find it amusing when large corporate entities demonstrate that aircraft carriers can turn like a Smart Car. Remember Hewlett Packard when it bought Autonomy and then HP decided that Autonomy was not a great buy. Flip flow. Remarkable.
Now Alphabet Google has demonstrated its flexibility. I read “Google Plans Not to Renew Its Contract for Project Maven, a Controversial Pentagon Drone AI Imaging Program.” The main idea is that Alphabet Google responded to an RFP, invested tens of thousands of dollars in crafting a proposal, spent significant time in meetings with Googlers and US government professionals, paid lawyers to finalize the deal, discuss potential revenue from a fairly modest government contract, had some employees complain about the use of smart software for purposes the employees deemed inappropriate, read about the schism inside Alphabet Google in the “real” newspaper, learned that employees provided some information to an online information service, and then announced that it would not renew the US government contract.
There you go.
From government contract with follow on sales potential to an outfit which has probably evoked some annoyance in Washington. How long for this aircraft carrier to turn? About four days.
Remarkable.
The Gizmodo article referenced above stated:
Google will not seek another contract for its controversial work providing artificial intelligence to the U.S. Department of Defense for analyzing drone footage after its current contract expires.
I also highlighted this statement:
Google’s decision to provide artificial intelligence to the Defense Department for the analysis of drone footage has prompted backlash from Google employees and academics. Thousands of employees have signed a petition asking Google to cancel its contract for the project, nicknamed Project Maven, and dozens of employees have resigned in protest.
I assume the COTR and the team government team working on this Alphabet Google job were thrilled to learn that “the contract is of relatively little value.” Yep, “little value.”
Management agility in action.
Several questions:
- Is Google serving shareholders, customers, or employees?
- What signal does this send to companies like Amazon which are now competing for DoD work?
- What are the lawyers at the Department of Defense thinking?
- What does this change of direction say about Alphabet Google’s management approach?
- Is this decision comparable to the purchase of Motorola by Google?
My hunch is that other questions can be raised.
Net net: Alphabet Google, like Yahoo, is now generating business school case studies which are more like Hollywood movie scripts than real life.
Reality is indeed surprising.
Stephen E Arnold, June 2, 2018
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