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fbroom's review against another edition
3.0
I’m not sure about this one. I’ve heard many of the ideas in the book somewhere else (culture, 20% time, hiring, innovation, planning, ship & iterate, facilities and so on) so I didn’t feel like I learned anything new plus these ideas were vaguely talked about in this book. It wasn’t really useful. I read Creativity Inc three years and thought it was much more useful and inspiring because Ed talked about many of the mistakes Pixar made, how they happened, what they learned and how they corrected the situation. In this book everything was great and some small issues/mistakes were mentioned quickly and vaguely without telling us why these issues happened and what they learned from it.
Notes:
They first describe smart creative who are smart workers. They are business smart. They know their technology and are creative. They are experts in their fields. They let data decide but not overtake and so on. How do you provide an environment where they can do their best?
- Culture: You need a great culture and a slogan they people do believe in. You need to plan your culture early.
- Strategy: you don't want a rigid business plan that limits freedom but a great solid foundation and a fluid plan that accommodates change. Run by ideas not hierarchy.
- Facilities should not be a symbol of status. Everyone should work together in the same space. Keep it crowded so that people run into each other. Keep teams small.
- make your organization flat. Maximum direct reports of 7.
- Knaves vs Divas at work. Tolerate Divas.
- Offsites for fun.
- Base products on technical insight and not on market research.
- Being able to grow platforms and scale them quickly is a must for the future.
- Hiring: Hire intelligent people able to learn what the future will hold. Experiences shouldn’t the only thing. Everyone should be invested in hiring, not just recruiters. make it a privilege.
- Make interviews matter. Questions that show the candidate’s ability to deconstruct complex problems. Make interviews shorter. No need for a whole hour. Hiring managers should not have the hiring decision. Hiring Committee.
- Reward employees just like star athletes.
- Create side projects aside from their day job to engage employees. Make job movement easy especially for high performers.
- Decision making: make it inclusive. Defer some decisions to other people.
- Make self-reviews and share them with your staff.
- Corporate Communication: share information. Be transparent. Share board meeting reports...
- Innovation: sometimes you don’t know how much money a new idea or innovation will make and you can’t, just focus on the user and worry about money later. Thing big. It should be a stretch to achieve. Sometimes overfunding hurt your project.
- 20% Time: give your employees time to innovate and explore ideas. This time isn’t paid. Workers are motivated by the work itself.
- Ship & Iterate: start with a great set of features. Add more later as you go.
- Future:
Notes:
They first describe smart creative who are smart workers. They are business smart. They know their technology and are creative. They are experts in their fields. They let data decide but not overtake and so on. How do you provide an environment where they can do their best?
- Culture: You need a great culture and a slogan they people do believe in. You need to plan your culture early.
- Strategy: you don't want a rigid business plan that limits freedom but a great solid foundation and a fluid plan that accommodates change. Run by ideas not hierarchy.
- Facilities should not be a symbol of status. Everyone should work together in the same space. Keep it crowded so that people run into each other. Keep teams small.
- make your organization flat. Maximum direct reports of 7.
- Knaves vs Divas at work. Tolerate Divas.
- Offsites for fun.
- Base products on technical insight and not on market research.
- Being able to grow platforms and scale them quickly is a must for the future.
- Hiring: Hire intelligent people able to learn what the future will hold. Experiences shouldn’t the only thing. Everyone should be invested in hiring, not just recruiters. make it a privilege.
- Make interviews matter. Questions that show the candidate’s ability to deconstruct complex problems. Make interviews shorter. No need for a whole hour. Hiring managers should not have the hiring decision. Hiring Committee.
- Reward employees just like star athletes.
- Create side projects aside from their day job to engage employees. Make job movement easy especially for high performers.
- Decision making: make it inclusive. Defer some decisions to other people.
- Make self-reviews and share them with your staff.
- Corporate Communication: share information. Be transparent. Share board meeting reports...
- Innovation: sometimes you don’t know how much money a new idea or innovation will make and you can’t, just focus on the user and worry about money later. Thing big. It should be a stretch to achieve. Sometimes overfunding hurt your project.
- 20% Time: give your employees time to innovate and explore ideas. This time isn’t paid. Workers are motivated by the work itself.
- Ship & Iterate: start with a great set of features. Add more later as you go.
- Future:
wintrovia's review against another edition
4.0
Google has always been an interesting company to me. They seem at times like a benevolent uncle that provides free and useful tools to us all, then they seem like a corporate megalith that hoovers up the competition and finally they're cast often as the modern Skynet - on a mission to destroy the human race and replace it with an algorithym.
This book gives a really interesting insight into how Google has grown and the way they do things. The emphasis on coming up with ambitious plans and then doing them is quite interest to hear about. The synical part of me thinks they're holding back a lot about the brass tacks of what goes on behind the scenes but it's still interesting to know how they work.
The expression "smart creatives" makes my skin crawl a bit, so to hear it used so often in the book wasn't great. I get what they mean when they say this but it's still a bit cheesey and corporate at times. That might be the difference between American and UK work cultures or it might just be me being a grumpy old git.
So I'd recommend this book but perhaps caution that it's Google's story told by the people at the middle of it, so you're not getting warts and all but it's still full of insights into the giant mega-company that will probably destroy us all some day.
This book gives a really interesting insight into how Google has grown and the way they do things. The emphasis on coming up with ambitious plans and then doing them is quite interest to hear about. The synical part of me thinks they're holding back a lot about the brass tacks of what goes on behind the scenes but it's still interesting to know how they work.
The expression "smart creatives" makes my skin crawl a bit, so to hear it used so often in the book wasn't great. I get what they mean when they say this but it's still a bit cheesey and corporate at times. That might be the difference between American and UK work cultures or it might just be me being a grumpy old git.
So I'd recommend this book but perhaps caution that it's Google's story told by the people at the middle of it, so you're not getting warts and all but it's still full of insights into the giant mega-company that will probably destroy us all some day.
theapartmentmakemake's review against another edition
3.0
The book in general is alright. The advice it gives seems practical and probably works under specific circumstances. The problem is that it gets very boring once a few practical pointers have been given out as the author goes on to spin these pointers in different keys. This is probably to drive the message home, and there is some to learn. It's just that "How Google Works" never really seems to get answered. Hiring smart creatives and allowing them to blossom does not give one Google. Yet, this seems to be the main point of the book.
michalhaman's review against another edition
3.0
Fajn pohľad dvoch dôležitých mužov Googlu na firmu, ktorá patrí medzi najúspešnejšie a najštýlovejšie firmy dnešnej doby. Úspešné aj neúspešné kroky Googlu sa autori snažili zhrnúť do faktorov úspechu, ktoré zovšeobecňujú na všetky firmy v internetom veku ľudstva. Kniha je výborná na zamyslenie sa, čo si od nich máme zobrať, a naopak čo je pre nich, IT sektoch a firmu ich veľkosti špecifické (a prevzať sa nedá). Odporúčam každému, kto sa rád zaoberá fungovaním organizácií, určite sa dá čerpať z myšlienok Googlu a reflektovať cez ne vlastné fungovanie.
artex's review against another edition
4.0
I suspect, that this mildly benevolent narrative not necessarily reflects the reality, but in general gives you some perspective from former CEO of Google. A one can grasp one or two interesting thoughts, but don't expect practical ins and outs. I always had a feeling that the book is rather declarative. Do you like thought-provoking, powerful and controversial thoughts? Sorry, pass.
Score: 3.5
Score: 3.5
mzoli's review against another edition
3.0
تا حد خوبی کلیشهای، تکراری و غیر جدی بود. ولی باز هم همه کلیشههای کنار هم بد از آب در نیامده بود.
مشکل اصلی به نظرم اینه که در مورد چالشهای ملموس صحبت نمیکنه. کلی صحبت میکنه.
میگه بهترینها رو استخدام کن، به جای تخصص در یک حوزه خاص دنبال هوشمندی و توانایی یادگیری باش. اما نمیگه وقتی پول استخدام بهترین رو نداری چی کار کن.
به نظرم سوراخ دعای اینترنت در زمان درستی افتاد دست گوگلی که خودشم به اندازه کافی خوب بود. حالا با اون درآمد کارهای قشنگ رو میشه راحت انجام داد و ازشون صحبت کرد.
کتاب میگه شکست رو به عنوان یک مسیر نگاه کنید نه نتیجه. اما نمیاد از چند تا از شکستها بگه و تغییراتی که در گوگل ایجاد کردن. از این لحاظ هست که میگم کتاب جدیای نبود.
از یک لحاظهایی به نظرم این کتابها میتونن گمراه کننده باشن. گمراه کننده از این نظر که آدم به این باور برسه که موفقیت محصول پیگیری یک سری اصول و روشهایی هست که گفته میشود. در صورتی که به نظرم اکثر این طور کتابها عاملهای مهم دیگه رو در نظر نمیگیرن. عواملی که خودشون در اون دخیل نبودن شاید چون نقش خودشون رو کمرنگتر میکنه. به خصوص این ایراد وقتی جدیتر میشه که مثل این کتاب یک فرد یا افرادی که جزیی از مجموعه هستند کتاب رو مینویسند.
مشکل اصلی به نظرم اینه که در مورد چالشهای ملموس صحبت نمیکنه. کلی صحبت میکنه.
میگه بهترینها رو استخدام کن، به جای تخصص در یک حوزه خاص دنبال هوشمندی و توانایی یادگیری باش. اما نمیگه وقتی پول استخدام بهترین رو نداری چی کار کن.
به نظرم سوراخ دعای اینترنت در زمان درستی افتاد دست گوگلی که خودشم به اندازه کافی خوب بود. حالا با اون درآمد کارهای قشنگ رو میشه راحت انجام داد و ازشون صحبت کرد.
کتاب میگه شکست رو به عنوان یک مسیر نگاه کنید نه نتیجه. اما نمیاد از چند تا از شکستها بگه و تغییراتی که در گوگل ایجاد کردن. از این لحاظ هست که میگم کتاب جدیای نبود.
از یک لحاظهایی به نظرم این کتابها میتونن گمراه کننده باشن. گمراه کننده از این نظر که آدم به این باور برسه که موفقیت محصول پیگیری یک سری اصول و روشهایی هست که گفته میشود. در صورتی که به نظرم اکثر این طور کتابها عاملهای مهم دیگه رو در نظر نمیگیرن. عواملی که خودشون در اون دخیل نبودن شاید چون نقش خودشون رو کمرنگتر میکنه. به خصوص این ایراد وقتی جدیتر میشه که مثل این کتاب یک فرد یا افرادی که جزیی از مجموعه هستند کتاب رو مینویسند.
jurgenappelo's review against another edition
5.0
Great view on the culture and practices of an inspiring company.
andgineer's review against another edition
2.0
Очевидно, я не целевая аудитория этой книги, и, возможно, я напрасно ставлю низкую оценку.
Книга ровно о том, о чем обещает рассказать - менеджерские игры вокруг разработки.
Я сам был директором, занимался этим, но понял, что мне это совсем не интересно, по сравнению с собственно разработкой ПО.
Вообще, автор как раз пытается продвигать идею "наймите программистов, которые сами себе менеджеры, и вам вообще не надо будет ими управлять".
Но это хорошо для стартапа в 400 человек, а не гиганта с сотнями тысяч сотрудников.
Где вы видели подход "Наймем грамотных рабочих и нам не надо беспокоится про дизайн и маркетинг этого небоскреба"?
Пусть судя по документалкам Discovery на строительстве небоскребов и в самом деле работают уникальные рабочие, многое сами знающие сильно лучше архитектора. Но это не означает что вам не нужен архитектор, это лишь значит что вы можете делать более сложные проекты, потому что вам не надо описывать миллион деталей, но вам все равно нужен общий план и про него ни один рабочий ничего вам не подскажет.
Так что мои две звездочки это скорее реакция на "пусть программисты сами придумывают, что делать", чем на, что эта книга для менеджеров, а не программистов.
И нет, не надо думать, что следующий этап карьеры программиста это неизбежно менеджер.
Книга ровно о том, о чем обещает рассказать - менеджерские игры вокруг разработки.
Я сам был директором, занимался этим, но понял, что мне это совсем не интересно, по сравнению с собственно разработкой ПО.
Вообще, автор как раз пытается продвигать идею "наймите программистов, которые сами себе менеджеры, и вам вообще не надо будет ими управлять".
Но это хорошо для стартапа в 400 человек, а не гиганта с сотнями тысяч сотрудников.
Где вы видели подход "Наймем грамотных рабочих и нам не надо беспокоится про дизайн и маркетинг этого небоскреба"?
Пусть судя по документалкам Discovery на строительстве небоскребов и в самом деле работают уникальные рабочие, многое сами знающие сильно лучше архитектора. Но это не означает что вам не нужен архитектор, это лишь значит что вы можете делать более сложные проекты, потому что вам не надо описывать миллион деталей, но вам все равно нужен общий план и про него ни один рабочий ничего вам не подскажет.
Так что мои две звездочки это скорее реакция на "пусть программисты сами придумывают, что делать", чем на, что эта книга для менеджеров, а не программистов.
И нет, не надо думать, что следующий этап карьеры программиста это неизбежно менеджер.
mohanishmk's review
5.0
Great book.
It cover all important areas about business organisation and provides great practical insights about different things.
It cover all important areas about business organisation and provides great practical insights about different things.