While that can be a problem, it's tough to address at Google's scale. Consider the possible solutions: (1) Top management tells everybody what to do. Result:

While that can be a problem, it's tough to address at Google's scale. Consider the possible solutions: (1) Top management tells everybody what to do. Result: No initiative from low-level employees. (2) In case of conflicting projects, top management decides which team should continue. Result: Rampant internal politics. (3) In case of conflicting projects, let all of them continue, and see which project wins the market. Result: Wasting resources; company looks disorganized to outsiders. Some other companies (Apple?) avoid the problem by sticking to (1). However, many Google employees joined in the first place thanks to the tale of "A company where you can work on the problem you want to": it will be very tough for them to ditch the model wholesale, and it may harm the company in the long run. I think Google does a bit of all three. While Google could certainly do better in some cases, it's not like Google's willfully ignoring an obvious solution.