Une culture de l’innovation 2 Patrick Chanezon [email_address] http://twitter.com/ chanezon HEC Montreal 20 Octobre 2009

Traits of Google Enterprise Culture Infrastructure Culture Universality Design Principles Inspiration driven by data Risk Agile Open Source APIs Googleyness The world is flat Do no evil Getting the right People Strategic patience

Infrastructure Culture

Universality

Design Principles

Inspiration driven by data

Risk

Agile

Open Source

APIs

Googleyness

The world is flat

Do no evil

Getting the right People

Strategic patience

Infrastructure culture

Infrastructure culture Larry and Serguey’s 1998 paper ”The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine" http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html Other Google Research papers since then http://research.google.com/pubs/papers.html Build on the shoulders of giants Custom stack made of standards parts: machines, linux, servers Standard infrastructure: sharding, GFS, MapReduce, BigTable Google App Engine: easy cloud, for Googlers and others developers Standard languages: c/c++, java, python Horizontal scalability: parallel and asynchronous whenever possible

Larry and Serguey’s 1998 paper ”The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine"

http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html

Other Google Research papers since then

http://research.google.com/pubs/papers.html

Build on the shoulders of giants

Custom stack made of standards parts: machines, linux, servers

Standard infrastructure: sharding, GFS, MapReduce, BigTable

Google App Engine: easy cloud, for Googlers and others developers

Standard languages: c/c++, java, python

Horizontal scalability: parallel and asynchronous whenever possible

Universality

Universality Be ambitious Tackle large problems… …at the scale of the web Examples: gmail, GWT, OpenSocial, Maps, Earth, Checkout, App Engine, Chrome, Wave Products or parts of them can become reusable infrastructure GWT used in Wave and AdWords Checkout used in Android Market BigTable used in App Engine

Be ambitious

Tackle large problems…

…at the scale of the web

Examples: gmail, GWT, OpenSocial, Maps, Earth, Checkout, App Engine, Chrome, Wave

Products or parts of them can become reusable infrastructure

GWT used in Wave and AdWords

Checkout used in Android Market

BigTable used in App Engine

What makes a design "Googley"?

What makes a design "Googley"? 1. Focus on people—their lives, their work, their dreams. 2. Every millisecond counts. 3. Simplicity is powerful 4. Engage beginners and attract experts. 5. Dare to innovate. 6. Design for the world. 7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business. 8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind. 9. Be worthy of people's trust. 10. Add a human touch. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-makes-design-googley.html

1. Focus on people—their lives, their work, their dreams.

2. Every millisecond counts.

3. Simplicity is powerful

4. Engage beginners and attract experts.

5. Dare to innovate.

6. Design for the world.

7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business.

8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.

9. Be worthy of people's trust.

10. Add a human touch.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-makes-design-googley.html

Inspiration driven by Data

Inspiration driven by Data A/B testing (see Marissa's preso) for UI Everything is measured Measures drive product development Dogfood program: use products internally before they are released, sometimes friend and family programs Gmail labs: allows 20% ideas to be pushed out to external volunteers

A/B testing (see Marissa's preso) for UI

Everything is measured

Measures drive product development

Dogfood program: use products internally before they are released, sometimes friend and family programs

Gmail labs: allows 20% ideas to be pushed out to external volunteers

Fail often, fail quickly, and learn

Fail often, fail quickly, and learn Risk taking/Experimentation is encouraged http://blog.red-bean.com/sussman/?p=96 “Do not be afraid of day-to-day failures — learn from them. (As they say at Google, “don’t run from failure — fail often, fail quickly, and learn.”) Cherish your history, both the successes and mistakes. All of these behaviors are the way to get better at programming. If you don’t follow them, you’re cheating your own personal development.” Ben Collins-Sussman (Subversion, code.google.com)

Risk taking/Experimentation is encouraged

http://blog.red-bean.com/sussman/?p=96

“Do not be afraid of day-to-day failures — learn from them. (As they say at Google, “don’t run from failure — fail often, fail quickly, and learn.”) Cherish your history, both the successes and mistakes. All of these behaviors are the way to get better at programming. If you don’t follow them, you’re cheating your own personal development.”

Ben Collins-Sussman (Subversion, code.google.com)

Agile Development Processes

Agile Development Processes Influences from XP, Agile, Scrum Code reviews Test Driven Development: Testing on the Toilets program and blog Many internal development tools: Mondrian recently open sourced Changed the meaning of beta Teams co-located: 3-15 people, 4/cubicle, all close to each other International offices: manage whole projects, avoid coordination costs

Influences from XP, Agile, Scrum

Code reviews

Test Driven Development: Testing on the Toilets program and blog

Many internal development tools: Mondrian recently open sourced

Changed the meaning of beta

Teams co-located: 3-15 people, 4/cubicle, all close to each other

International offices: manage whole projects, avoid coordination costs

Open Source Culture

Open Source Culture Open Source Program Office Summer of Code Open sourcing parts of Google code http://code.google.com/ Making the web better: GWT, Gears, OpenSocial, Android

Open Source Program Office

Summer of Code

Open sourcing parts of Google code

http://code.google.com/

Making the web better: GWT, Gears, OpenSocial, Android

API Culture

API Culture Bill Joy: "Innovation happens elsewhere" From 3 to 62 APIs in 3 years Maps on websites Friend Connect: all sites can become social http://code.google.com/ for the list Build an ecosystem around the APIs (my job) User's choice: get their data out

Bill Joy: "Innovation happens elsewhere"

From 3 to 62 APIs in 3 years

Maps on websites

Friend Connect: all sites can become social

http://code.google.com/ for the list

Build an ecosystem around the APIs (my job)

User's choice: get their data out

API Culture (fr-ca)

Googleyness

Googleyness Innovation Non conformism Risk taking Flexibility Pragmatism: doers, coders, not talkers, architects or “urbanists”

Innovation

Non conformism

Risk taking

Flexibility

Pragmatism: doers, coders, not talkers, architects or “urbanists”

The world is flat

The world is flat Flat management structure but structured processes 7 levels for 20k employees Tolerance for chaos Managed bottom up process for innovation: 20% time Committee to decide whether to invest in a project 70/20/10 rule Culture of consensus

Flat management structure but structured processes

7 levels for 20k employees

Tolerance for chaos

Managed bottom up process for innovation:

20% time

Committee to decide whether to invest in a project

70/20/10 rule

Culture of consensus

Do No Evil

Do No Evil Not an absolute More like a moral compass for the company Frequently used in meetings: wildcard that can change decisions

Not an absolute

More like a moral compass for the company

Frequently used in meetings: wildcard that can change decisions

Getting the right people

Getting the right people Layered recruitment process: phone screens, interviews, committees, Larry & Serguey's final word 50% engineers, 50% sales High bar for engineers Free food, best perks in the industry Google transportation: shuttle, bikes, experiments Acquisitions: small teams, early stage, for people and technology

Layered recruitment process: phone screens, interviews, committees, Larry & Serguey's final word

50% engineers, 50% sales

High bar for engineers

Free food, best perks in the industry

Google transportation: shuttle, bikes, experiments

Acquisitions: small teams, early stage, for people and technology

Strategic patience

Strategic patience AdWords provides a regular and solid revenue stream Allows Google to be patient when investing other areas 70/20/10 Rule Examples: Gmail, Google Apps, Checkout Acquisitions: teams lost for a year to migrate to Google infrastructure ... but it pays off!

AdWords provides a regular and solid revenue stream

Allows Google to be patient when investing other areas

70/20/10 Rule

Examples: Gmail, Google Apps, Checkout

Acquisitions: teams lost for a year to migrate to Google infrastructure

... but it pays off!

Harvard Business Review article “Reverse Engineering Google’s Innovation Machine”, HBR april 2008, Bala Iyer and Thomas Davenport http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=R0804C They got it right Indentified many aspects of what makes Google culture work well for innovation And provide a process to help you adapt some of its elements to your business

“Reverse Engineering Google’s Innovation Machine”, HBR april 2008, Bala Iyer and Thomas Davenport

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=R0804C

They got it right

Indentified many aspects of what makes Google culture work well for innovation

And provide a process to help you adapt some of its elements to your business