How Google is Managed — I

Notes and comments which are about “How Google Works” book.

I wanted to share the notes I took from the book I read called “How Google works”. I didn’t like the foreword very much, I usually just blinked, but this time I took notes.

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” (John Wooden)

Authors discuss how companies tend to make small technological changes instead of revolutionary ones.

Schmidt emphasizes the need to take big risks and make bold decisions for the future rather than being stuck in conformity. In relation to Google Maps, the authors mention how initially, the idea of mapping the entire world and photographing every street seemed absurd, yet it became a reality.

They emphasize that many things that are dismissed today may become the new normal in the future. The text suggests that companies must not be afraid to challenge the status quo and embrace forward-thinking strategies to stay relevant amidst technological advancements.

Larry Page, one of the founders of the company, wrote the foreword. The author of the actual book is Eric Schmidt. To summarize roughly what I understand from the main idea of the book, many companies today like to continue with tiny little changes in terms of technology, but the changes are revolutionary, not evolutionary. You have to push yourself, push your luck, to make big bets on the future.

We have a good saying here that ” the last one standing freezes :)”. Otherwise, technological developments will sweep away the conformists, the rest of us. (DX) Digital Transformation is a big revolution, those who adapt to it as institutions and teams will have opportunities. I understand this, I read a lot of articles about DX.

There is a good example in the book for Google Maps. At first, when people said that the goal was to map the whole world and then photograph every street, Google employees saw that people around them were making fun of them. From this point of view, many things that people say today may become our new normal in a few years, and the book emphasizes that this will happen more sharply with examples.

Founded as a start-up in 1998, Google starts to get the most customers through MS Internet Explorer (IE). After a while, they succeeded in attracting the attention of MS, and their struggle with Microsoft (MS), the king of the jungle in terms of products and services, in 2003 is described very well in the book.

They addressed MS as Finland among themselves, because the headquarters of MS was there:). There is a lot of fun and instructive information about start-ups and their transformation into big companies. They turned the shortcomings of a start-up idea established for the benefit of the user into an advantage and then they aimed that it would be possible to make money when they provided quality and they succeeded. This basic idea, the basic initiative that led the founders of Google to success.

While building the world’s best search engine, they aim to bring together the best engineers in the world in an environment where they can work freely, as I understand from what I read. I also came across here, they think simple, that is, they have progressed with the “simple is hard” perspective at every point. They even defend the idea of hiring only engineer managers at the very beginning, then they give up on this as things grow:) Apart from the mission and vision, they aim to provide really free environments for their employees. They meet every Friday afternoon and evaluate whether everyone is on the same path. They call these weekly review meetings TGIF and shelve them after 2019. It’s a fun name:) Thank God, It is Friday…

Link:

Turkish Part:

I share the song I listen to while I take my notes, I wish I would listen well:)