How Google Innovates
Have a mission that matters.
Work can be more than a job when it stands for something you care about. Google’s mission is to ‘organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.’ We use this simple statement to guide all of our decisions. When we start work in a new area, it’s often because we see an important issue that hasn’t been solved and we’re confident that technology can make a difference.
Work can be more than a job when it stands for something you care about. Google’s mission is to ‘organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.’ We use this simple statement to guide all of our decisions. When we start work in a new area, it’s often because we see an important issue that hasn’t been solved and we’re confident that technology can make a difference.
Think big but start small.
No matter how ambitious the plan, you have to roll up your sleeves and start somewhere. Google Books was an idea that our founder, Larry Page, had for a long time. People thought it was too crazy even to try, but he went ahead and bought a scanner and hooked it up in his office. He began scanning pages, timed how long it took with a metronome, ran the numbers and realized it would be possible to bring the world’s books online.
No matter how ambitious the plan, you have to roll up your sleeves and start somewhere. Google Books was an idea that our founder, Larry Page, had for a long time. People thought it was too crazy even to try, but he went ahead and bought a scanner and hooked it up in his office. He began scanning pages, timed how long it took with a metronome, ran the numbers and realized it would be possible to bring the world’s books online.
Strive for continual innovation, not instant perfection.
The best part of working on the web? We get do-overs. Lots of them. Iterating has served us well. We weren’t first to Search, but we were able to make progress in the market by working quickly, learning faster and taking our next steps based on data.
The best part of working on the web? We get do-overs. Lots of them. Iterating has served us well. We weren’t first to Search, but we were able to make progress in the market by working quickly, learning faster and taking our next steps based on data.
Look for ideas everywhere.
Several years ago, we took this quite literally and posted an ideas board on a wall at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View. On a Friday night, an engineer went to the board and wrote down the details of a convoluted problem we had with our ads system. A group of Googlers lacking exciting plans for the evening began re-writing the algorithm within hours and had solved the problem by Tuesday.
Several years ago, we took this quite literally and posted an ideas board on a wall at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View. On a Friday night, an engineer went to the board and wrote down the details of a convoluted problem we had with our ads system. A group of Googlers lacking exciting plans for the evening began re-writing the algorithm within hours and had solved the problem by Tuesday.
Spark with imagination, fuel with data.
In our fast-evolving market, it’s hard for people to know, or even imagine, what they want. What begins with intuition is fueled by insights. If you’re lucky, these reinforce one another…That’s the beautiful thing about data – it can either back up your instincts or prove them totally wrong.
In our fast-evolving market, it’s hard for people to know, or even imagine, what they want. What begins with intuition is fueled by insights. If you’re lucky, these reinforce one another…That’s the beautiful thing about data – it can either back up your instincts or prove them totally wrong.
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