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> Google Health is a good example of failing to appreciate specialization and domain-expertise. Trying to draw value from broad generic data collection when IRL

> Google Health is a good example of failing to appreciate specialization and domain-expertise. Trying to draw value from broad generic data collection when IRL it requires vertical-focused domain-oriented collection and analysis to really draw value. I'm not sure I agree with this statement. From what I've heard, Google Health employed a huge team of doctors and they were included through the entire feature development lifecycle, similar to how the product org functions in other software companies.

dmix 5y ago
Hiring a broad set of domain experts != a domain/vertical focused business. ‘Doctors’ can cover a massive disparate field of study. My point is they did it backwards, they should have found real world healthcare problems to solve then built the common ground between them. Building a generic API platform or cloud database turned out to not be the problem anyone needed help solving. Most companies who did the integration to Health did it for marketing, not because it was essential to any business value. How many companies have done “AI” merely for marketing too? Google search ranked websites better than anyone, they zeroed in on that one problem and removed all the cruft, while Yahoo and others were jamming as much crap into their ‘portals’ as possible. Google seemed to have forgot that lesson. Waymo fell for this too. They built an entirely new type of car and gambled on a whole new taxi service (among other promises) that would entirely disrupt transportation - as the starting point. Innovation rarely ever jumps ten steps ahead like that. They chose to solve a thousand problems at once while the rest of the world with actual delivered products are struggling to solve even assisted highway driving in high-end luxury cars.. cars people were going to buy anyway.
AlbertCory 5y ago
Algorithm: 1) Decide to take over Domain X. 2) Hire a bunch of people from Domain X. Don't hire anyone who doesn't agree that you can take over X. 3) Make them report to the people whose idea it was in the first place. If they say "Hey, maybe this wasn't such a great idea" then push them out, as an example to the rest. 4) FAIL. Note that #1 is the key. The decision to do it precedes the hiring.

dmix 5y ago

Hiring a broad set of domain experts != a domain/vertical focused business. ‘Doctors’ can cover a massive disparate field of study. My point is they did it backwards, they should have found real world healthcare problems to solve then built the common ground between them. Building a generic API platform or cloud database turned out to not be the problem anyone needed help solving. Most companies who did the integration to Health did it for marketing, not because it was essential to any business value. How many companies have done “AI” merely for marketing too? Google search ranked websites better than anyone, they zeroed in on that one problem and removed all the cruft, while Yahoo and others were jamming as much crap into their ‘portals’ as possible. Google seemed to have forgot that lesson. Waymo fell for this too. They built an entirely new type of car and gambled on a whole new taxi service (among other promises) that would entirely disrupt transportation - as the starting point. Innovation rarely ever jumps ten steps ahead like that. They chose to solve a thousand problems at once while the rest of the world with actual delivered products are struggling to solve even assisted highway driving in high-end luxury cars.. cars people were going to buy anyway.

AlbertCory 5y ago

Algorithm: 1) Decide to take over Domain X. 2) Hire a bunch of people from Domain X. Don't hire anyone who doesn't agree that you can take over X. 3) Make them report to the people whose idea it was in the first place. If they say "Hey, maybe this wasn't such a great idea" then push them out, as an example to the rest. 4) FAIL. Note that #1 is the key. The decision to do it precedes the hiring.