How Google Works
Updated: Jun 5, 2020
Authors: Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle
Released: September 2014
A good framework on the key pillars google is built upon to be great. This book mad me sad in that most business and most people will never be or work at an environment like this. Ok 50 points recapped from the book!
(1) Three converging technology platforms - Internet, mobile, and cloud - are transforming virtually every business sector.
(2) This transformation is happening at an unprecedented speed, and it is accelerating.
(3) The tools of innovation have been democratized
(4) The balance of power has shifted from companies to customers, and expectations are skyrocketing.
(5) Individuals and small teams can have a huge impact.
(6) Product people are more valuable than business people.
(7) Most companies today are designed and run to minimize risk, not maximize speed.
(8) The only way for businesses to consistently succeed is to attract the best smart creatives and create an environment where they can thrive at scale.
(9) Define your culture early.
(10) Build around small teams.
(11) Keep them crowded.
(12) Working from home kills innovation
(13) Listen to the best ideas, not the hippos
(14) Organize the company around the people whose impact is the highes
(15) Do all re-orgs in a day
(16) Exile knaves but fight for divas.
(17) Overwork people in a good way
(18) Cultivate fun, even if (especially if) it comes at management’s expense.
(19) Businesses should be built on a strong set of strategic principles, not an MBA-style plan.
(20) Superior products start with unique technical insights
(21) Optimize for growth
(22) Know your competition, but don’t copy it
(23) Ask the hardest questions
(24) Hiring is the most important thing you do
(25) Interviewing is the most important skill you can develop
(26) Hire learning animals, not specialists
(27) Check your biases at the door
(28) Make hiring and promotion decisions by committee, based on data
(29) Reward top performers
(30) Force the best people to rotate
(31) Consensus isn’t about getting everyone to agree; it’s about making the best decision for the company and getting everyone to rally about it
(32) Make all decisions with data
(33) Meet every day
(34) You’re both right
(35) Every meeting needs an owner
(36) Everyone needs a coach
(37) Default to open
(38) Be an effective router
(39) Start conversations
(40) Repetition doesn’t spoil the prayer
(41) Value relationships over process and hierarchy
(42) The CEO should be the CIO (Chief Innovation Officer)
(43) Think 10X, not 10%
(44) Focus on the user, and the money will follow.
(45) Empower smart creatives over managers
(46) Set unattainable goals and share them widely
(47) Optimize for speed
(48) Fail well
(49) Imagine the unimaginable
(50) We are technology optimists
Verdict: The material in here is great. It does not however fit with a majority of the businesses people are at so take it with a grain of salt. That said, you have all the info you need to be excellent
5 out of 5 boots!