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Google’s board has spoken, and the price of their stock today matters more than the company’s future. If I was an employee who cared about Google’s vision, or

Google’s board has spoken, and the price of their stock today matters more than the company’s future. If I was an employee who cared about Google’s vision, or what other services they could offer the world, the I’d probably be angry at the squandered opportunity too.

ebiester 3y ago
If they were angry enough, they’d unionize.
- aeyes 3y ago
  A union doesn't protect against layoffs.
  - darth_avocado 3y ago
    It does.
next_xibalba 3y ago
Google is acting rationally. The products produced by these massively compensated employees in their 10s of thousands have failed to meaningfully add value beyond Search. Other Bets, X, Brain, DeepMind, etc, etc. All have failed over the last 20 years. Just good money after bad. So, the rational thing to do is cut costs and harvest profits. How many product managers, marketers, TPMs, DEI personnel, and layers and layers of directors and VPs does Google need to keep Search cranking? Answer: far, far fewer.
- adrr 3y ago
  Do you think the failure was tactical failures or strategic failures? Other companies seem to bring new categories of business with success. Why could Microsoft launch a game platform and be successful but google couldn’t? Why is an e-commerce company leading cloud computing?
  - next_xibalba 3y ago
    My best guess is culture. Google's perks went from a means to allow employees to work longer and harder to an entitlement that actually undermined productivity. It also appears they allowed internal activists to distract and delay the release of various tech–LLMs, for example, that would have given them a multi-year lead. Again, too many do-nothing marketers, PMs, DEI bureaucrats, TPMs, Directors and VPs, not enough actual builders. Maybe this is the blood letting Google needs to get it back into gear.
  - hnfong 3y ago
    You can't just give people "stuff" to do without a clear direction. You need strong leaders with vision and commitment. And if the leaders can't stomach the risk of failing hard, well, that's how you end up with Google of the past ~15 years.

ebiester 3y ago

If they were angry enough, they’d unionize.

aeyes 3y ago
A union doesn't protect against layoffs.
- darth_avocado 3y ago
  It does.

next_xibalba 3y ago

Google is acting rationally. The products produced by these massively compensated employees in their 10s of thousands have failed to meaningfully add value beyond Search. Other Bets, X, Brain, DeepMind, etc, etc. All have failed over the last 20 years. Just good money after bad. So, the rational thing to do is cut costs and harvest profits. How many product managers, marketers, TPMs, DEI personnel, and layers and layers of directors and VPs does Google need to keep Search cranking? Answer: far, far fewer.

adrr 3y ago
Do you think the failure was tactical failures or strategic failures? Other companies seem to bring new categories of business with success. Why could Microsoft launch a game platform and be successful but google couldn’t? Why is an e-commerce company leading cloud computing?
- next_xibalba 3y ago
  My best guess is culture. Google's perks went from a means to allow employees to work longer and harder to an entitlement that actually undermined productivity. It also appears they allowed internal activists to distract and delay the release of various tech–LLMs, for example, that would have given them a multi-year lead. Again, too many do-nothing marketers, PMs, DEI bureaucrats, TPMs, Directors and VPs, not enough actual builders. Maybe this is the blood letting Google needs to get it back into gear.
- hnfong 3y ago
  You can't just give people "stuff" to do without a clear direction. You need strong leaders with vision and commitment. And if the leaders can't stomach the risk of failing hard, well, that's how you end up with Google of the past ~15 years.