He’s probably saving the best bits for a future book deal, but for now Doug Edwards is enjoying the free time millions of dollars can bring to someone and blogging about his experiences at the almighty G.
Google Blogoscoped pointed to one blog Mark Cuban will regret filtering out of IceRocket with his BlogSpot ban. The Xooglers blog (as in ex-Googlers) displays some of Edwards’ anecdotes about working for Google from 1999-2005. Here are a few of the more interesting passages he’s blogged so far from various posts:
Google tended to hire smart Stanford grads and set them loose in the halls. If they didn’t secure a role elsewhere, they ended up in marketing, where the assumption seemed to be that no special skills were required, as long as you could think quickly and were willing to work hard.
“I’m going to give you five minutes,” [Sergey Brin] told me. “When I come back, I want you to explain to me something complicated that I don’t already know.” He then rolled out of the room toward the snack area.
It’s not important to slow down and explain things, if the value of what you’re doing is so self-evident that eventually people will see it for themselves. You’ll hear a lot on this topic from me, because I think it’s Google’s core strength and it’s greatest Achilles’ heel.
Hubris as Google’s hamartia? It explains Google’s dogged persistence in pushing forward with Google Book Search, in the face of lawsuits and other opposition. One thing is for certain: someone at Microsoft has probably read that part about Google’s potential tragic flaw, and made a PowerPoint presentation about it.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
