Sic Transit Google.....

Been watching my LinkedIn feed over the past week and noticed a lot of people being laid off from Google. Probably because I either have known them for decades or know someone who has known them. And in most cases these people have been there for a LONG while. Some since the beginning, or 2008 whichever came first :-)

And it got me thinking: Google was always this amazing magical place that was.... different from other companies. But to me it was more like the fun pre-dot com companies like Digex. There you were a person not a role, you were part of a group doing amazing things and fun stuff and it was neat and party like and hard work but amazing pride in being where you were and doing what you did.

And then.... it changed. FTP Software changed. Sandstorm changed. Discovery changed. Digex changed. And they became companies. Companies who hire people to fill roles, not create roles for amazing people. Companies who have a limited number of chairs and people competing to fill them instead of limitless possibilities to work on. Companies that are expected to post predictable returns. And companies that hire quickly and fire quickly: When a project ends it's easier to just dispose of the people and hire a new group for the new project.

People become like widgets, and stop being people.....

And I understand because I have seen it happen, and watched it happen. Someday I'll write a history of the IEEE Computer Society from 1995 to 2000, it was an amazingly unique time. I got there just in time to look at the collapsed ceiling in the computer room and be told to fix it as I saw fit. So we did. And then we looked at the Library Subscription pile of CD's we sent out and realized we could turn it into a Digital Library with subscriptions and E-Commerce and everything using that NCR 3550 minicomputer that AT&T donated to us along with a web server from some guy at UIUC....

We did so many things. We literally rocked the gates of heaven during those years. Member services, online renewals, E-Accounts and Aliases, even a full document delivery system all written by us because.... well why not?

And then it all crashed down in April of 2000 when Dan Sinese and the IEEE came to tell us that our solutions were "novel, but not interesting". When I heard that at the all hands meeting, saw the slides, and saw that Duncan Laurie resigned as a board director I realized the the place I knew was gone forever.

So I left. I had pledged myself to a vision, a way things could be different, and when that was lost there was no point staying around. And sadly enough I don't think the IEEE Computer Society did one innovation after 2000. They led the Internet, and abdicated it to what we have now.

Google..... The company changed. A lot of my friends from Computer Society and Counterpane worked with them, and I remember how proud they were about the "Don't be Evil" motto. And it worked for a time, then I guess you could say it began to slip and the goal was to "Organize the world's information" or something like that. Still a worthy goal, but a step down.

Now? Well Google is a company. It exists to create value for shareholders, it exists to produce a predictable revenue stream and to extract all the value it can from its products and services. That's fine, it is what it is. But one can't harbor the illusion that it is more than what it is. In the end it's a company, and should not be given any laurels or wreaths or great goals or whatever.

There is a concept called "Promoted values" which is what a company puts in their hiring packet and on their web site and talks about in annual reports. And then there are "Operating values" which is what a company actually values, rewards, and operates by. If there is a difference between promoted vaules and operating values then this can create stress and friction. If the operating values have changed and the promoted values remain, then the people working there have to know that their work, time, and effort are going to promote the operating values of the company, and not the promoted ones.

But the most dangerous thing is to think a company is what it is not. Humans have a concept that they expect future events to happen based on past history. And in a lot of cases this is true: The sun rises in the east and we really don't expect it to come up in the South tomorrow morning.

But when a company changes ownership, goes public, or goes private you have to understand that past history is nice but can't be relied on. You have to judge the company based on the operating values in place NOW. And you can't say "Oh this is simply a rough patch, it will go back to normal soon". It might, but it probably will not. The new normal has arrived and you have to deal with that.

sigh This is not a happy post, and it brings up some sad memories. I'm sure Google is an amazing place, with amazing stuff. But it's basically a company now and has been for awhile and should be treated as such.

The one thing I do hope is that the people who worked there, the people I knew and respected continue to hold those core values in their heart and apply them to new ventures, new places, and pass them on to a new generation. Google's values were good ones, that cared about people and made the world a better place. I try to do this, that's why I work for places where I feel like I am making a positive difference in the world. It matters to me, and I'd like to pass on those values to the people I work and interact with.

Sic transit Gloria mundi.

Long live the values of Google and all the other amazing places.....