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"Their design ability might be improving, but again and again they show a lack of editing — they lack the ability to be selective about their product portfolio.

by mankyd 13y ago

"Their design ability might be improving, but again and again they show a lack of editing — they lack the ability to be selective about their product portfolio." This statement seems strange to me, being as the the prior paragraphs were about Google shuttering many of their products. Google may not have historically had great "editing" but they seem to be getting there. They're discontinuing products that they don't think will succeed, exactly what "editing" sounds like to me.

jtbigwoo 13y ago
Editing takes place before publishing, not after. A newspaper that prints a dozen retractions per day is not well edited.
- mankyd 13y ago
  A fair point, but as they learn to edit, they can't leave what they consider to be unsuccessful products in place either. Unlike publishing, product development isn't static.
  - jtbigwoo 13y ago
    It's a hard problem for them. In traditional industries there's some natural protection from the problems that google encounters with product management. It would take Samsung forever to start up a factory to make a new kind of washing machine, for example. If the new washing machines don't sell, Samsung could discontinue the product line without pissing off very many customers because all of the washing machines they already sold would continue working. Google has the opposite problem where it's easy to start a new product but discontinuing even a minor product pisses off thousands of people. If they cared about customer happiness and trust, they'd get better at choosing products to release and they'd move more quickly to killing off unsuccessful ones. (Honestly, I'm not sure they care about customers enough to change. They may place more value on flexibility than they do on customer happiness and trust.)
- tomkarlo 13y ago
  Two of the biggest data points for editing products - their popularity and growth rate - don't exist before you launch. I'm sure Google doesn't launch products it believes will be unpopular, so whatever launches and ends up unpopular, that data point was a surprise. It would be nice if you could tell which products will take off before you build them - it would save everyone a lot of trouble.
cageface 13y ago
Google is attacked on one hand for having too many products and on the other hand for discontinuing products. I guess when you're as dominant as Google is now critics will always find something to criticize. The only thing in this piece I agree with is that Google+ is creepy and I don't like having it forced on me when I want to use their other products. Google's made a Faustian bargain here in their panic over Facebook and it seems to be corrupting them from the inside.

by mankyd 13y ago

jtbigwoo 13y ago

Editing takes place before publishing, not after. A newspaper that prints a dozen retractions per day is not well edited.

mankyd 13y ago
A fair point, but as they learn to edit, they can't leave what they consider to be unsuccessful products in place either. Unlike publishing, product development isn't static.
- jtbigwoo 13y ago
  It's a hard problem for them. In traditional industries there's some natural protection from the problems that google encounters with product management. It would take Samsung forever to start up a factory to make a new kind of washing machine, for example. If the new washing machines don't sell, Samsung could discontinue the product line without pissing off very many customers because all of the washing machines they already sold would continue working. Google has the opposite problem where it's easy to start a new product but discontinuing even a minor product pisses off thousands of people. If they cared about customer happiness and trust, they'd get better at choosing products to release and they'd move more quickly to killing off unsuccessful ones. (Honestly, I'm not sure they care about customers enough to change. They may place more value on flexibility than they do on customer happiness and trust.)
tomkarlo 13y ago
Two of the biggest data points for editing products - their popularity and growth rate - don't exist before you launch. I'm sure Google doesn't launch products it believes will be unpopular, so whatever launches and ends up unpopular, that data point was a surprise. It would be nice if you could tell which products will take off before you build them - it would save everyone a lot of trouble.

cageface 13y ago

Google is attacked on one hand for having too many products and on the other hand for discontinuing products. I guess when you're as dominant as Google is now critics will always find something to criticize. The only thing in this piece I agree with is that Google+ is creepy and I don't like having it forced on me when I want to use their other products. Google's made a Faustian bargain here in their panic over Facebook and it seems to be corrupting them from the inside.