March 08, 2004

Google's Secrets of Fostering Innovation in Technology Development


"An IT organization running at full throttle all the time is ultimately self-defeating"

Chad Dickerson, in last week's Infoworld column, made the above observation while recounting the five basic principles that drive Google's technology development:
  • Work on things that matter
  • Affect everyone in the world
  • Solve problems with algorithms where possible (automate everything)
  • Hire bright people and give them lots of freedom
  • Don't be afraid to try new things
In particular, Chad notes that:

As a general practice, Google also requires that its engineers spend 20 percent of their time working on personal technology projects unrelated to their primary projects.  ...  I think hiring bright people and giving them freedom is a required element of an innovative organization, one that implicitly supports trying new things.

I've seen some of these at Harvard Business School since its transformational IT Initiative 1996.  It's not always easy to stay on the path - balancing innovative freedom with operational rigor - but it pays big dividends to try. 

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