Media: Fast Company keeps company with Google

"How Google Grows...and Grows...and Grows" by Keith H. Hammonds explores the organisation that provides such a user-focussed service.

'Geeks are different from the rest of us, so it's no surprise that they've created a different sort of company. Google is, in fact, their dream house. It also happens to be among the best-run companies in the technology sector. At a moment when much of business has resigned itself to the pursuit of sameness and safety, Google proposes an almost joyous antidote to mediocrity, a model for smart innovation in challenging times,' Hammond writes.

While we probably all know geeks whose user-savviness falls behind their technical know-how, that just makes the achievement all the more laudable.

'Google understands that its two most important assets are the attention and trust of its users. If it takes too long to deliver results or an additional word of text on the home page is too distracting, Google risks losing people's attention. If the search results are lousy, or if they are compromised by advertising, it risks losing people's trust. Attention and trust are sacrosanct,' the piece continues.

'But what is most striking about Google is its internal consistency. It is a beautifully considered machine, each piece seemingly true to all the rest. The appearance of advertising on a page, for example, follows the same rules that dictate search results or even new-product innovation. Those rules are simple, governed by supply, demand, and democracy -- which is more or less the logic of the Internet too.

'Like its search engine, Google is a company overbuilt to be stronger than it has to be. Its extravagance of talent allows it crucial flexibility -- the ability to experiment, to try many things at once.'

This article is an enthusiastic study of a company that has followed user-centred principles to their logical conclusions.

Associated Link: Fast Company: How Google Grows...and Grows...and Grows

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