I had the opportunity of spending a few weeks this winter at Google Korea as I was sent as a technical liaison for my client and this has given me an immense understanding of why Google is the best in the world. I have realized how small things can get a large crowd interested in ideas. How viral marketing in a small scale can still help the larger cause. I shall discuss a few practices here. Hope you catch my drift.
If you hire the best you will get the best
While Korea is a place where you might find very few people fluent in English, you might find that almost everyone at Google is capable of conversing in English. The secret to this puzzle lies in the fact that almost everyone at Google has been hired from some or the other top US university. You will find engineers walking around in sweatshirts from their Alma mater . And by Alma mater I mean Stanford, Harvard, MIT and Caltech. It was evident in my interactions that these guys at Google were no ordinary guys. With degrees from such great universities, these engineers we obviously special in every way. The way they talk, the way the analyze a problem, the way they take up ownership, almost everything that they do clearly shows that they indeed are the best in the world.
If you have an Idea or problem, share it and solve it
Yep, they just love ideas. in fact they love ideas to such an extent that they have an online forum just to share ideas. And not just that. Anybody can work on it in their free time (its no secret that Google allows their employees to spend 20% of their time on task of their interest). People take this aspect very seriously and spend days and nights solving complex problems. In addition, the whole environment at Google is one that is encourages problem solving and code development. There are pictures and posters of statements like "I am part of Σ ", "Do you love data?" etc that give a sense of the importance that data has in the lives of Google Employees. They have fun coding and testing and breaking others code. Even at the restrooms, above the Urinals, you posters called "Testing in the toilets" that have a code challenge or some link to a code that they want people to log in and test/break code. They believe in generating work. This is how they get their employees to fall in love with their work. It is definitely the place where ideas are born and nurtured.
Everything online and KISS
Yes. They design their products around the one this that is omnipresent and that is the internet. If you have an idea, no mater what it is, get it online. That just make a good idea great. Integrate your idea with the plethora of apps already available online. Google docs, Google+ etc actually make your life easy. In you Business, if you want to share XLS with your clients, forget about the old ways of sending it via mail and waiting for a response the next day (especially if your client and you are in different time zones). Use Google docs instead and get stuff updated in real time. Share data via Google drive and stay connected via Google Plus. Reuse code, use shared repositories and make your life simple.
Well, another very important thing that must be addressed. People often have a view that Google is a fun place to work with free stuff and games etc etc. Sounds glamourous right. But believe me, the actual view is quite different.while there is lot of free stuff to eat and drink, and they do have game rooms, I have hardly seen people spend time there. Its only on Friday evenings that I hear noises from the Game rooms. The rest of the time, these guys are having fun on their laptops. These guys hardly talk to each other during the day even if they sit four feet apart. Every one is busy enjoying their work. They love doing things by themselves. Serious dedication and yet full enjoyment.
All this makes me feel that we have so much to learn from the company. Its a company where people are really passionate about what they do. Everyone has a story and is working on something exciting.
Well I shall write more whenever possible. Till then Enjoy
