Why Google is... well Google
After watching this small video on the history of Google search, all of my other ideas for a thoughts blog got bumped out of the way to write this post. I am a fan of Google. Nicework is a fan of Google. They run our mail, calendar and documents on a daily basis.
It is amazing to see how Google has continuously innovated and improved their search. Some of the features that are spoken about in the video (like combined search) we never really realized were added. At the same time, those very features have made the Google search tool exponentially better than their competitors. The improvement was fundamental, but the execution was seamless and almost unnoticeable to the user, which, I think, is the mark of a great company. You do not need to have a huge learning curve to adopt Google technology and they solve problems before you even know you have them.
What I took from the video:
- Make a culture out of innovation
- Google gives their employees 20% of their working time to focus on future projects and 10% of their time to focus on outlandish passion projects. Most of Google’s best innovations have come out of this “experimental” time. What can we learn from this? Simply, that it is very easy to kill inspiration with practicality. Easier said than done, but I said it, so you must do it.
- Innovation is a constant process. In the video, Google employees and scholars speak about their current search engine in a progressive sense. They are always looking for ways to improve and innovate into the future. I’m really looking forward to proper voice search and the implementation of contextual search.
- Never be dead in the water - Always try to improve what you have done before.
- We are seeing a trend emerging globally. Massive companies, who have been dominating the market for years, are now being overtaken by smaller competitors. If you do not stay fresh or relevant consumers and markets will leave you behind.
- A good example of this trend is the success of the company Square who have revolutionised the way small businesses can accept credit card payments. Square has created such a stir in such a short period of time that the big boys like Visa and MasterCard are trying desperately to catch up.
- Be the best at what you are, but have a plan on how to get better
- We live in an age where the best is expected. Anyone can copy what you do, but they can never know how you are planning to improve.
- Nokia, the biggest handset maker in the world, who has been a respected manufacturer and supplier of superior quality, has been left behind. Now it is all about the smart phones which Nokia have just not cracked.
- Shoot from the hip - it does not need to be perfect to be put out there. Make many iterations and improve over time with research
- Google are the masters of releasing a product in Beta, which encourages people to interact and comment. They take these comments under review and use the insights to improve in future versions. This is how you can stay agile. In the current market if you are not agile you are dead (It helps that Google’s products are free too).
- Look at instagram, which has come from nowhere to rack up 13 million users in less than a year, with a staff count of only 7 employees. They started with a very simple concept and are improving their product as they go.
- If you do a video interview, make sure the cool motorised scooter you own is in the background
- Need I say more... just take a look
Now lets hope they don’t turn evil on us.
Read The original article here.
