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This is an interesting story. Barra leaves for Xiaomi. Ok, so that's moderately interesting... anyone who chooses to leave Google for anything else tends to get

This is an interesting story. Barra leaves for Xiaomi. Ok, so that's moderately interesting... anyone who chooses to leave Google for anything else tends to get some kind of news (a tweet or two?) b/c Google is supposedly an amazing place to work. Xiaomi is a Chinese company... plenty of xenophobic, insightful, or whatever comments to cover that topic in this thread. The story sort of hints that Barra's girlfriend was either poached by or traded-up for Sergey Brin (forgive my language, it's terribly sexist... but that little tidbit in the middle of this article is not there by accident and kinda paints that picture). Who knows? I don't... and other than being an interesting HR case study who cares? What's completely missing from this article is how Barra impacted Android? I've seen him at I/O. Ok? So what else? He's a quick riser... must have done something... but what? What's not going to get done w/ Android now that Barra is not at Google? Perhaps that kind of information will be forthcoming. EDIT: Spelling, grammar

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
yapcguy 13y ago
Your speculation appears to be on the money as Brin and his wife are living apart... and another Googler is involved. "Brin and Wojcicki, both 40 years old, had been married for six years and have two children. They are not yet legally separated. The possibility of a reconciliation of the pair is unclear, since Brin has become romantically involved with a Google employee, according to sources. This is further complicated by the fact that that employee had also at one point been involved with another Googler."[1] [1] http://allthingsd.com/20130828/google-co-founder-sergey-brin-and-23andme-co-founder-anne-wojcicki-have-split/ http://allthingsd.com/20130828/google-co-founder-sergey-brin...
- spartango 13y ago
  This is some nasty, tabloid-esque "reporting". It shows little respect for Brin or his wife, regardless of what the situation is. I wish we could not promote or spread this kind of rubbish, as it's not healthy at all.
  - davidu 13y ago
    In this situation, the reporter(s) at AllThingsD actually have much more detail (as they have clarified on Twitter) but haven't shared out of respect for the folks involved.
  - yapcguy 13y ago
    A British tabloid did a number on Eric Schmidt recently, calling him a "love rat" with "a string of exotic lovers". http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2371719/Googles-Eric-Schmidts-open-marriage-string-exotic-lovers.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2371719/Googles-Eric... Is this kind of reporting any worse than the paid-for-fluff pieces in TechCrunch, PandoDaily and Wired?
    - cududa 13y ago
      This story is a rehash of a 6 year old story.
    - eliasmacpherson 13y ago
      Ahem, I can think of noone more deserving of a hack job than the originator of this quote: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Bravo for the Daily Mail!
      - yapcguy 13y ago
        It's a Sergey Brin love Quadrangle according to an Aussie paper - with names and photos: "an office romance that is being blamed for a split between co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, and the sudden resignation of another senior male executive who was the former boyfriend of Brin's new love interest." http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/sergey-brin-love-quadrangle-blamed-for-google-executives-sudden-departure-20130829-2st1m.html http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/sergey-brin... If you want to go tabloid, there's Gawker: http://valleywag.gawker.com/meet-the-google-founders-mistress-1219044247 http://valleywag.gawker.com/meet-the-google-founders-mistres...
      - magicalist 13y ago
rgbrenner 13y ago
"anyone who chooses to leave Google for anything else tends to get some kind of news (a tweet or two?) b/c Google is supposedly an amazing place to work." I don't know if leaving google is news anymore. The average google employee only stays just over a year before moving on to something else. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-29/why-are-google-employees-so-disloyal-.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-29/why-are-google-empl... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/least-loyal-employees_n_3641487.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/least-loyal-employe...
- jrockway 13y ago
  According to the article you link, the average tenure is one year for users of a site called PayScale. I've never even heard of it, so they have no idea how long I've worked at Google.
  - kamaal 13y ago
    I think you read it wrong. Its .. >>The median employee tenure at Google is just more than one year, according to the payroll consultancy PayScale.
    - evgen 13y ago
      A number that is skewed by the fast rate of hiring by top-tier companies. When companies are hiring at the rate of Google, Facebook, Apple, etc then even an infinitesimal departure rate of old-timers would set the median at that level.
    - nostrademons 13y ago
      He's pointing out that the data comes from PayScale. Most Googlers have never even heard of PayScale, and so the information that is being reported in this article comes from a tiny slice of Google. It's also a biased sample, as someone who goes on PayScale is likely someone who is going to hunt around for the best salary available. It's dangerous to assume everything you read is correct. You can usually get a hint at how it's biased by reading the article closely.
ChuckMcM 13y ago
I found the salacious comments fairly off putting, perhaps AllThingsD thinks the rebirth of ValleyWag is a competitor? In general product management does what you might think of "brand management" and "design language" so if Android needed roundier iconography I expect Barra was the guy to sign off on that, or if Samsung was getting too aggressive in making it a "Galaxy" phone instead of an "Android" phone he might get involved in that. I don't have inside knowledge, its just the kinds of things that role does in tech companies. That is why I wouldn't expect to see any sort of explicit impact statements wrt to Android. Rubin leaving on the other hand suggested that Android was going to become less the lede and more the flavor. Google has spent a lot of effort on making "Chrome" a more inclusive brand than Android which I find fascinating from a strategy perspective.
- tensafefrogs 13y ago
  > In general product management does what you might think of "brand management" and "design language" While it's possible some product managers have done that, they don't typically get involved in minutiae like that. Product Managers at Google are more business focused, figuring out what the teams should focus on and keeping them pointed in the right direction based on the market and feedback from their customers + users.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

yapcguy 13y ago

Your speculation appears to be on the money as Brin and his wife are living apart... and another Googler is involved. "Brin and Wojcicki, both 40 years old, had been married for six years and have two children. They are not yet legally separated. The possibility of a reconciliation of the pair is unclear, since Brin has become romantically involved with a Google employee, according to sources. This is further complicated by the fact that that employee had also at one point been involved with another Googler."[1] [1] http://allthingsd.com/20130828/google-co-founder-sergey-brin-and-23andme-co-founder-anne-wojcicki-have-split/ http://allthingsd.com/20130828/google-co-founder-sergey-brin...

spartango 13y ago
This is some nasty, tabloid-esque "reporting". It shows little respect for Brin or his wife, regardless of what the situation is. I wish we could not promote or spread this kind of rubbish, as it's not healthy at all.
- davidu 13y ago
  In this situation, the reporter(s) at AllThingsD actually have much more detail (as they have clarified on Twitter) but haven't shared out of respect for the folks involved.
- yapcguy 13y ago
  A British tabloid did a number on Eric Schmidt recently, calling him a "love rat" with "a string of exotic lovers". http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2371719/Googles-Eric-Schmidts-open-marriage-string-exotic-lovers.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2371719/Googles-Eric... Is this kind of reporting any worse than the paid-for-fluff pieces in TechCrunch, PandoDaily and Wired?
  - cududa 13y ago
    This story is a rehash of a 6 year old story.
  - eliasmacpherson 13y ago
    Ahem, I can think of noone more deserving of a hack job than the originator of this quote: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Bravo for the Daily Mail!
    - yapcguy 13y ago
      It's a Sergey Brin love Quadrangle according to an Aussie paper - with names and photos: "an office romance that is being blamed for a split between co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, and the sudden resignation of another senior male executive who was the former boyfriend of Brin's new love interest." http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/sergey-brin-love-quadrangle-blamed-for-google-executives-sudden-departure-20130829-2st1m.html http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/sergey-brin... If you want to go tabloid, there's Gawker: http://valleywag.gawker.com/meet-the-google-founders-mistress-1219044247 http://valleywag.gawker.com/meet-the-google-founders-mistres...
    - magicalist 13y ago

rgbrenner 13y ago

"anyone who chooses to leave Google for anything else tends to get some kind of news (a tweet or two?) b/c Google is supposedly an amazing place to work." I don't know if leaving google is news anymore. The average google employee only stays just over a year before moving on to something else. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-29/why-are-google-employees-so-disloyal-.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-29/why-are-google-empl... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/least-loyal-employees_n_3641487.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/least-loyal-employe...

jrockway 13y ago
According to the article you link, the average tenure is one year for users of a site called PayScale. I've never even heard of it, so they have no idea how long I've worked at Google.
- kamaal 13y ago
  I think you read it wrong. Its .. >>The median employee tenure at Google is just more than one year, according to the payroll consultancy PayScale.
  - evgen 13y ago
    A number that is skewed by the fast rate of hiring by top-tier companies. When companies are hiring at the rate of Google, Facebook, Apple, etc then even an infinitesimal departure rate of old-timers would set the median at that level.
  - nostrademons 13y ago
    He's pointing out that the data comes from PayScale. Most Googlers have never even heard of PayScale, and so the information that is being reported in this article comes from a tiny slice of Google. It's also a biased sample, as someone who goes on PayScale is likely someone who is going to hunt around for the best salary available. It's dangerous to assume everything you read is correct. You can usually get a hint at how it's biased by reading the article closely.

ChuckMcM 13y ago

I found the salacious comments fairly off putting, perhaps AllThingsD thinks the rebirth of ValleyWag is a competitor? In general product management does what you might think of "brand management" and "design language" so if Android needed roundier iconography I expect Barra was the guy to sign off on that, or if Samsung was getting too aggressive in making it a "Galaxy" phone instead of an "Android" phone he might get involved in that. I don't have inside knowledge, its just the kinds of things that role does in tech companies. That is why I wouldn't expect to see any sort of explicit impact statements wrt to Android. Rubin leaving on the other hand suggested that Android was going to become less the lede and more the flavor. Google has spent a lot of effort on making "Chrome" a more inclusive brand than Android which I find fascinating from a strategy perspective.

tensafefrogs 13y ago
> In general product management does what you might think of "brand management" and "design language" While it's possible some product managers have done that, they don't typically get involved in minutiae like that. Product Managers at Google are more business focused, figuring out what the teams should focus on and keeping them pointed in the right direction based on the market and feedback from their customers + users.