'The Google Philosophy'... Apply it at your leisure...
Now I know I
said I'm going to talk about apps (and I promise I am getting to it) but last's
week's blog on the merits of Google, got me to thinking...
Why on earth is it that the world's smartest search engine has become such a
Goliath? What are the exact cultural conditions that have created the optimum
environment for Googlers to thrive, and how can we use this very specific
information as a template for excellence, growth and innovation in our every
day lives? Yes it's all about 'mirroring' ladies and gents (i.e. stealing Google's
top tips for personal development):
- 20% of your time should be
dedicated to new ideas. Down at the Googleplex this means that every
single member of staff is given a 20% window of time out of their working
week (whether they want to use it as a single day or collect the units for
a longer sabbatical). A whole host of ingenious ideas implemented by
Google, came directly from staff members tinkering away on their own
supposedly 'little' projects. Now just think what would happen if we all
did the same; if, instead of just 'keeping up' with our weekly work load
we carved out 20% of time and devoted it to looking ahead, planning,
foraging and dreaming up a master plan for the next year or two - the best
possible antidote to stagnation.
- Work should be FUN! Yes the
Googleplex was created in the spirit of JOY; a decision underpinned by the
very real observation that workers are much more productive in a 'playful'
highly stimulating environment. Ergo the Googleplex is more akin to a
college campus (with gadgets, entertainment and toys aplenty); the theory
being that a) people will work longer hours in an environment that truly
inspires them and b) that increased levels of productivity will therefore
contribute to an increased share price. Which brings me to....
- Design; how does your working
environment look? Is it somewhere bright and breezy - or is it a desk
piled with empty coffee mugs and unpaid bills? Just see the difference in
your productivity when you plant your brain in a colourful hub of
creativity instead of a tired old shed of an office. The founders of
Google never balk at the amount of money they invest in creating clean,
colourful, high tech offices that contribute to the 'hot house' of ideas
that make Google one of the most successful companies in the world. Take
this to heart - if you really want to invest in your work (and your
future) rent a desk at one of the legion of work hubs cropping up across
the City. We simply love.
- Dangle a carrot - yes the large
majority of staff down at Google are given stock options as part of a
'golden handshake' on joining the company; what impact does this have? A) It
binds them to Google b) it gives them a personal stake in the success of
the company, both of which can't help but incentivize them to succeed on
Google's behalf. How can we transpose this to our every day lives? If you
don't own stock in the company you're working for, look into acquiring it
and see how your whole attitude towards the company changes.
- Invest in health - Google is
renowned for providing its employees with the freshest, most nutritious
food around? Why? Because this investment is the gift that just keeps
giving; productivity is boosted through improved brain function, and the
Googlers feel cared for, loved and cherished, meaning they work harder to
boot - making it win win all round. Even better Google significantly
reduces the legions of lost time accrued when employees leave the Google
campus to source food. Last but not least, the communal lunch tables are
the source of many a great idea developing in the Google consciousness; we
don't doubt some of the search engine's best features originated over a
plate of steamed Seabass. Take this theory into your own life; and just
see how your productivity sky rockets.
- Every minute is valuable. When the
great minds at Google noticed how much time employees were spending
commuting to the Googleplex from San Francisco to Silicon Valley, they immediately
provided a coach service complete with Wi-Fi. This (some would say) hefty
financial investment, paid dividends; not only were employees chatting,
surfing and generating ideas, they were inadvertently investing more time
in Google rather than in navigating transport requirements; plus the
employees felt taken care of and were therefore more loyal as a result.
What's the moral of the story? Time is money and anything that is going to
save it, is definitely worthy of investment.
- Open plan, is the way forward; the
Googleplex is well known for its very specific design aesthetic; one in
which 'cubicles' is a dirty word. No segregating staff like battery hens,
the offices are designed to generate an endless river of ideas. Everyone’s
chatting, everyone's communicating - this is where Google's innovation
comes from. When someone has an idea, it's jumped on 'now' - not tomorrow
or next week... Another benefit of working in a hub if self employed.
Which brings me to:
- If it's worthy of doing, do it now.
This idea is central to the Google ethos. Don't delay - procrastination is
the death of art, and the search engine is nothing if not an art form.
- Your friends are who you become -
surround yourself with those who inspire, challenge and motivate you to
see spectacular results; this is an age old theory, but Sergey Brin and
Larry Page have certainly taken in to heart; which is why even with close
to 1000 employees they take a decidedly personal approach when it comes to
hiring. They know full well that it isn't enough to be good at your job,
for Google to truly excel; you need to inspire the person sitting next to
you.
- Forget about money - it's all about
the idea and developing it. One of the major USP's of Google is the idea
of 'being of service'; how can they improve the life of the average human
for the better - mirror this in your own life and see how quickly it
improves.
- Wear what you want - smart casual
is the way forward! Yes comfort is key - Google is all about confidence
and your most cherished items of clothing are all part of the creative
culture that will help you to thrive.
So there it is; the very specific cultural conditions that lead to one of
the greatest online success stories of all time.
Right - now to
the apps! They're here, they're there; they're everywhere - how much time have
you spent ladies and gents 'deapping' recently? For me it's a good ten to
twenty minutes every two weeks I would say. I hear about them, I download them,
I'm usually disappointed - and then it's time to ditch them. Yes the love
affair with the humble app can be incredibly short lived. But the real issue is
do apps actually save us as much time as we think they do? Jus to weigh up the
pros and cons, here's my app timetable:
·
Wake
up at 7am - ten seconds gazing blearily at my alarm clock app. Set another
alarm for ten am, that's thirty seconds in total.
·
Then
it's onto Tech News Tube (my handy little tech info buddy), browse on that for
a good ten minutes, saving myself a good hour surfing all the disparate tech sites
such as TechCrunch and Mashable.
·
Next
it's time for Wunderlist - input today's most important tasks and review any
tasks frown yesterday that didn't get finished. Exciting, I know. Two minutes
as opposed to twenty searching for my handwritten list from yesterday and
scribbling it all down again.
·
Need
to make a transfer - Barclays 'Ping It' does the work in a fraction of the time
it would take to log onto Internet banking and fiddle with the card dongle (has
anyone come up with a name for it yet?)
·
Next
I get on the tube and head to an interview. En route I decided to spend a
little time recording the events of the last week in the handy Evernote, my
much loved diary - 20 minutes; an entry complete with pictures (that's Evernote
1, Moleskine 0).
·
Oh
God lose my IPhone - ahhh, find it again in thirty seconds with the 'Find my
IPhone' app - two minutes as opposed to - well how long is a piece of string?
·
Waiting
for said 'meeting' to arrive - download The Times - thirty seconds as opposed
to five minutes walking to the local newsagents...
·
Am
stood up! Right need to connect with some form of human life in the cosmos -
hence it's time for Twitter, FB and a bit of Pinterest. Fifteen minutes as
opposed to a good six hours spent actually meeting people or speaking to them
on the phone - a false economy perhaps?
·
Last
but certainly not least, I have to send some rather large files - Dropbox and
Google Drive come in handy. Five minutes uploading time as opposed to a courier’s
two hour trek across the capital.
Phew! It's no
surprise that most of the day has been taken up with apps; opening them,
closing them and fiddling with them. On calculation, the tasks as outlined above
would have taken at least nine to ten hours longer had I resorted to
conventional means. But what about the human interaction part? The Newsagent I
didn't speak to because I downloaded The Times instead of buying it hard copy.
The work contact I didn't run into because I wasn't on the corner of that road,
at that time, on that day; because as apps innovate so too do they isolate - when you can effectively run
your entire world from your smartphone you lose the rich fabric of everyday
interaction that makes the world a colourful place to be. But then again - boy do you save time doing it.
------
On another
note: (yes there are always several). One of my parting shots
from Thailand was a visit to the Jim Thompson House and Museum. Jim was an
American silk entrepreneur who dedicated his life to reviving the age of art of
silk weaving in Thailand, he was also a collector of rare Thai art and architect of the most beautiful house in Bangkok Cybergirl has ever seen.
In 1967, whilst
on a trip into the foothills of the Malaysian Highlands he mysteriously disappeared,
never to be heard from again. No definitive clues have ever surfaced as to his
whereabouts. Why is this important to Cybergirl? Mortality of course -
mortality and the power of the Internet. Had Jim been living in the age of Sir
Tim Berners Lee, there would have been a web trail indicating his last
movements; would this have helped in the search for his elusive fate? Who
knows, but one thing is for sure - there would be more clues than are to date. But
what of the downside of a paper trail across the web - are some things are better
left unknown? What happens to all the information on Gmail, Facebook, in Private messages, on Twitter when you
die? That question and more will be dealt with next week... Till then, this is
Cybergirl signing off.
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