Outdated and certainly doesn't hold up to the test of time.

A bit self indulgent but worth it

Writing this review months later, the two main things that have stuck with me are:

1. The strategy of finding and hiring "smart creatives" and letting them build things that they come up with (a structured bottoms-up approach to innovation)
2. Defining innovation as something with a true technical enhancement. Every new product should have an tech element that is doing something new.

It's easy to get caught up in Googlevangelism, what the company has accomplished is remarkable, and everyone wants a bit of that Google pixie-dust in their own sectors. Reading through this book however, it becomes apparent that it's not a set of general management principles that can be applied as is to all context, its much more a description of what has worked specifically for Google, in the tech industry, in its business of search and advertising, in the early 2000's.

Context is key to getting the most out of these lessons. As someone who works in healthcare, some of these lessons were simply not that applicable: ship and iterate like mad? Maybe more caution is due when "shipping" a less-than-perfect product can cause misdiagnosis or wrongful death. If however we are careful to consider the set and context these aphorisms are being distilled from, many of them can be quite useful. Here are some of the highlights for me

The smart creative: the authors believe innovation and success in the information age is driven by a particular type, the strong-willed, critical, creative, resilient, opinionated, typically twenty-something technically-saavy entrepreneur, thus dubbed the "smart creative." It's an attractive hypothesis, especially to the SF set, and it sure works for Google and Facebook. I wonder though, how many of Google's 80,000 employees would truly qualify in Schmidt and Rosenberg's minds as smart creatives, and how many are rather supporting cast.

Google's tips for good org management: spans should be more than 7 to avoid micromanaging, teams no larger than what 2 pizzas can feed so it's a coherent unit, organize around functions and not P&L's to avoid conflicting local incentives, organize teams flexibly around high-impact talent, exile knaves (bad faith climbers) but fight for divas (rough around the edges but productive rockstars). Having an innovation chief or department is bad practice, that should be the CEO, innovation should be everyone's business.

Google on strategy: bet on technical insights (ground truths based on first principles and physics) and not on market research. Don't look for faster horses. Default to open (open source, transparency), but not dogmatically. Don't follow the competition (leads only to mediocrity).

Google on talent: hiring is the most important thing an org does. Herd effect - hire only A players, once you hire enough B players, you'll decay into a B org, then a C org... Managers tend to underinvest in interviewing as a skill. Hiring should be data-based and rigorous, Google uses comprehensive packets with rigorous cross-calibration, and ignore subjective elements during deliberations. Urgency of the role shouldn't ever compromise quality in hiring. Trade the M&M's, keep the raisins (let high performers move within the org to keep them engaged and interested).

Google on decision-making: Decide with data (duh). Knowing when to decide is hard, decide too soon and you haven't thought it out enough, wait too long and you dawdle. For important decisions, make sure to have PIA (patience, information, and alternatives) before committing, and meet everyday (you never know how your thinking might change on the umpteenth time revisiting it). Don't just listen to the HiPPOs (highest-paid person's opinion)

Moonshots and roofshots: authors seem conflicted on this. They are fully bought in on the moonshot mentality of google, set (almost) unattainable goals they say... but then they come back ever so often with a defense of practical roofshots, 1.5x improvements instead of 10x ones. And 80% of time on 80% of revenue they say... clearly there's a balance to be struck, and they believe the rest of the world sides too much with roofshots. Also there's a weird alternate 70/20/10 rule (70% of resources on core business, 20% on emerging, and 10% on new), the math doesn't sync up with the 80/20 rule...

Google on how the information age has changed the game: cost of outsourcing is lower, but bigger firms are better able to create better holistic products. Don't overplan in the MBA business plan sense (pro-formas, financial projections) because contexts change too fast for these to hold up, just stay dedicated to good products and user experience. In the age in which Facebook goes from 0 to 1bn users in under a decade, expect the astonishing. In an era of speed, control of information, distribution, marketing power, and other traditional business levers are secondary to product excellence.

I'm pretty sure my workplace practices some form of at least 90% of the ideas and advice in this book, so this is a bit hard to review given that I didn't really learn much from it, but it has a clear influence on my daily life.

It was still an easy listen and hearing it straight from the horses mouth with some clear examples from Google was interesting.

This is an important book if, unlike me, you're running a company that's trying to innovate, or if, like me, you're part of a company that's trying to follow Google's lead. Qualtrics has a lot of this baked in.

Even if you're not in technology, this is an interesting read with many good suggestions about how to think about and organize your work and teams. I think the reality is that inertia will prevent most companies/organizations from making significant changes or doing business like Google. But, some of these practices can be used by one person or a team.

Tolerate a little Google braggadocio and you'll read a book brimming with insight on leadership, technology, productivity, management, and overall good life lessons.

-Put the interest of the company about yours.
-Have a moral obligation to dissent.
-There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.
-People own what they are responsible for. Give them space to make things happen.
-Passionate people don't wear their passion on their sleeves; they have it on their hearts. It's more than resume deep. It's all encompassing absorption and it isn't always synonymous with success.
-Establish a culture of yes.
-Have fun! If you're working your butt off without driving any fun, then something is wrong. Part of the fun comes to me from inhaling fumes future success
-Establishing a culture is easy change. Changing a culture is a difficult thing.
-Leadership requires passion. If you don't have it, get out.
-Don't obsess over competition.
-Plan for what will true in five years and work backward.
-The single most important thing you do is hire. The greatest skill you acquire is interviewing.
-Be a learning animal a growth mindset.
-If you don't have data you can't decide.
-Beware of the bobble-head yes. Getting everyone to say yes in a meaning does not mean you've arrived at a consensus. Consensus is about coming to the best idea of the company and rallying around it. It requires conflict and there should be open debate.