The Engineer Who Turned Off Google for Most of France
Xooglers.blogspot is a blog by former Google employees. Today, they talk about the power given to the regular folks at the company. Ray was an engineer at Google who had to deal with Google spammers performing automated queries with the real threat to slow down or block Google:
"Ray took unauthorized automated queries very personally. If the ISP wasn't responsive enough, he might block all of the ISP's other IP addresses, too. That's how Ray turned off access to Google for most of France one day.
One engineer holding that kind of power speaks to the assumptions inherent in Google'’s culture. Individuals were considered capable of weighing the effects of their actions and presumed to have the best interests of the company (and Google'’s users) at heart.
In previous jobs I'’d held, no one did anything of significance without first getting approval from two or more layers of management. Memos would be written, committees would form, discussions would be held and all aspects considered before steps could be taken. Time would pass.
Google emphasized acting over deciding."
In the Comments Section
"Google does "Ready, fire" and it works. Other companies do "Ready, aim aim aim aim aim aim fire". The idea is so watered down by committees and slow to market, when they finally "fire" (if they EVER do), the idea is shadow of what it started out as."
Some Common Sense
Unfortunately, giving the power to make management decisions back to the regular employees (without supervision) can also be dangerous.
References:
Say hey, it'’s Ray - Xooglers.blogspot.com
Just do it! - Xooglers.blogspot.com
Google: Ten Golden Rules - Newsweek
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