谷歌曾是一家“實(shí)力雄厚的公司”,但由于官僚主義的“繁文縟節(jié)”,它已經(jīng)“慢慢停止運(yùn)作了”。
這些言辭激烈的譴責(zé)來自于前谷歌軟件工程師普拉文·塞沙德里(Praveen Seshadri),他上周在Medium上發(fā)表了一篇長文,分享了他對(duì)這家科技巨頭的看法。塞沙德里是在谷歌于2020年初收購了他聯(lián)合創(chuàng)立的初創(chuàng)公司AppSheet后加入谷歌的。根據(jù)他的領(lǐng)英(LinkedIn)資料,他于上個(gè)月離開了該公司。
在他的文章中,塞沙德里批評(píng)谷歌的老板和員工忽視了最重要的東西,即用戶。雖然“尊重用戶”仍然是谷歌的核心價(jià)值觀,但塞沙德里寫道,在實(shí)踐中,“降低風(fēng)險(xiǎn)勝過一切。”
他承認(rèn),這是可以理解的,因?yàn)槎嗄陙砉雀璧囊磺卸肌俺銎娴睾谩?,這要?dú)w功于“一個(gè)叫做‘廣告’的印鈔機(jī),收入每年都在持續(xù)增長,掩蓋了所有其他的罪惡。”
塞沙德里認(rèn)為,問題在于谷歌的員工每天上班時(shí)并不認(rèn)為自己是在為用戶或客戶服務(wù)。相反,他們?yōu)楣雀鑳?nèi)部服務(wù),無論是內(nèi)部流程、技術(shù)、經(jīng)理,還是其他員工。
他寫道:“在這樣的世界里,加班加點(diǎn)工作或是殫精竭慮并不能創(chuàng)造任何根本性的新價(jià)值?!?/p>
他認(rèn)為,如果專注于創(chuàng)造價(jià)值,谷歌將“實(shí)現(xiàn)變革”。相反,如果關(guān)注的重點(diǎn)是潛在的風(fēng)險(xiǎn),那么“修改的每一行代碼”和“啟動(dòng)的任何項(xiàng)目”都會(huì)招致層層加碼:各式流程和層層審批。
在谷歌的職業(yè)發(fā)展方面,他寫道:“任何與管理層的分歧都會(huì)招致職業(yè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn),所以總是得對(duì)副總裁說‘好的,沒問題’,而副總裁對(duì)高級(jí)副總裁說‘好的,沒問題’,這樣的情況一路向上蔓延?!?/p>
對(duì)于谷歌來說,塞沙德里文章的發(fā)表恰好趕在敏感時(shí)期。兩周前,在谷歌分享了一段演示其即將推出的服務(wù)Bard的視頻后,母公司Alphabet的股價(jià)暴跌,Bard是一款類似于OpenAI的ChatGPT的人工智能聊天機(jī)器人。在視頻中,Bard對(duì)關(guān)于詹姆斯·韋伯太空望遠(yuǎn)鏡的問題做出的回答很不準(zhǔn)確。
微軟在OpenAI上投入了大量資金,本月早些時(shí)候,微軟推出了升級(jí)版必應(yīng)搜索引擎,除了傳統(tǒng)的搜索結(jié)果外,還提供類似ChatGPT的回答。微軟首席執(zhí)行官薩蒂亞·納德拉(Satya Nadella)本月在接受The Verge網(wǎng)站采訪時(shí)表示,雖然谷歌仍是“800磅重的大猩猩”(搜索引擎界領(lǐng)頭羊),但他希望微軟的這步人工智能棋能讓他的競爭對(duì)手“出列,然后展示他也會(huì)跳舞”(《歡樂好聲音2》里的猩猩強(qiáng)尼在街頭舞蹈家努西(Nooshi)的引導(dǎo)下開始學(xué)習(xí)并愛上了街舞,這里指的是微軟挑戰(zhàn)谷歌的主導(dǎo)地位,希望谷歌也能在人工智能聊天機(jī)器人領(lǐng)域的競賽中取得新突破。)。
據(jù)美國全國廣播公司財(cái)經(jīng)頻道(CNBC)報(bào)道,谷歌員工在一個(gè)內(nèi)部論壇上批評(píng)了包括首席執(zhí)行官桑達(dá)爾·皮查伊在內(nèi)的公司領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人,稱推出Bard無比倉促,整件事做得一塌糊涂。
不滿情緒甚囂塵上,員工們最近收到了提醒:谷歌白手起家。蘇珊·沃西基(Susan Wojcicki)周四宣布,她將辭去谷歌旗下油管(YouTube)的首席執(zhí)行官一職。1998年,沃西基將她的車庫租給了谷歌聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人拉里·佩奇(Larry Page)和謝爾蓋·布林(Sergey Brin),作為他們新搜索引擎項(xiàng)目的研發(fā)基地。她隨后加入了該公司,并在公司的迅速崛起中發(fā)揮了關(guān)鍵作用。
毫無疑問,谷歌在最初幾年的發(fā)展超出了所有人的預(yù)期。但如今,塞沙德里在他的文章中指出,谷歌內(nèi)部存在一種“集體錯(cuò)覺”,認(rèn)為該公司仍是出類拔萃的,而實(shí)際上,大多數(shù)人都在私下抱怨公司整體效率低下。
他寫道,作為谷歌員工,“你不會(huì)每天醒來都在想,你應(yīng)該如何做得更好,你怎樣做客戶才能得到更優(yōu)質(zhì)的服務(wù),你如何才能把工作做得更盡善盡美。相反,你認(rèn)為你正在做的事情已經(jīng)很完美了,而且沒有其他更好的方法了。”
如果他的看法是對(duì)的,而且許多人認(rèn)為ChatGPT或類似的工具最終將挑戰(zhàn)谷歌的搜索引擎主導(dǎo)地位,那么專注于創(chuàng)造價(jià)值可能已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠了。
谷歌沒有立即回應(yīng)《財(cái)富》雜志的置評(píng)請(qǐng)求。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
谷歌曾是一家“實(shí)力雄厚的公司”,但由于官僚主義的“繁文縟節(jié)”,它已經(jīng)“慢慢停止運(yùn)作了”。
這些言辭激烈的譴責(zé)來自于前谷歌軟件工程師普拉文·塞沙德里(Praveen Seshadri),他上周在Medium上發(fā)表了一篇長文,分享了他對(duì)這家科技巨頭的看法。塞沙德里是在谷歌于2020年初收購了他聯(lián)合創(chuàng)立的初創(chuàng)公司AppSheet后加入谷歌的。根據(jù)他的領(lǐng)英(LinkedIn)資料,他于上個(gè)月離開了該公司。
在他的文章中,塞沙德里批評(píng)谷歌的老板和員工忽視了最重要的東西,即用戶。雖然“尊重用戶”仍然是谷歌的核心價(jià)值觀,但塞沙德里寫道,在實(shí)踐中,“降低風(fēng)險(xiǎn)勝過一切。”
他承認(rèn),這是可以理解的,因?yàn)槎嗄陙砉雀璧囊磺卸肌俺銎娴睾谩?,這要?dú)w功于“一個(gè)叫做‘廣告’的印鈔機(jī),收入每年都在持續(xù)增長,掩蓋了所有其他的罪惡?!?/p>
塞沙德里認(rèn)為,問題在于谷歌的員工每天上班時(shí)并不認(rèn)為自己是在為用戶或客戶服務(wù)。相反,他們?yōu)楣雀鑳?nèi)部服務(wù),無論是內(nèi)部流程、技術(shù)、經(jīng)理,還是其他員工。
他寫道:“在這樣的世界里,加班加點(diǎn)工作或是殫精竭慮并不能創(chuàng)造任何根本性的新價(jià)值。”
他認(rèn)為,如果專注于創(chuàng)造價(jià)值,谷歌將“實(shí)現(xiàn)變革”。相反,如果關(guān)注的重點(diǎn)是潛在的風(fēng)險(xiǎn),那么“修改的每一行代碼”和“啟動(dòng)的任何項(xiàng)目”都會(huì)招致層層加碼:各式流程和層層審批。
在谷歌的職業(yè)發(fā)展方面,他寫道:“任何與管理層的分歧都會(huì)招致職業(yè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn),所以總是得對(duì)副總裁說‘好的,沒問題’,而副總裁對(duì)高級(jí)副總裁說‘好的,沒問題’,這樣的情況一路向上蔓延?!?/p>
對(duì)于谷歌來說,塞沙德里文章的發(fā)表恰好趕在敏感時(shí)期。兩周前,在谷歌分享了一段演示其即將推出的服務(wù)Bard的視頻后,母公司Alphabet的股價(jià)暴跌,Bard是一款類似于OpenAI的ChatGPT的人工智能聊天機(jī)器人。在視頻中,Bard對(duì)關(guān)于詹姆斯·韋伯太空望遠(yuǎn)鏡的問題做出的回答很不準(zhǔn)確。
微軟在OpenAI上投入了大量資金,本月早些時(shí)候,微軟推出了升級(jí)版必應(yīng)搜索引擎,除了傳統(tǒng)的搜索結(jié)果外,還提供類似ChatGPT的回答。微軟首席執(zhí)行官薩蒂亞·納德拉(Satya Nadella)本月在接受The Verge網(wǎng)站采訪時(shí)表示,雖然谷歌仍是“800磅重的大猩猩”(搜索引擎界領(lǐng)頭羊),但他希望微軟的這步人工智能棋能讓他的競爭對(duì)手“出列,然后展示他也會(huì)跳舞”(《歡樂好聲音2》里的猩猩強(qiáng)尼在街頭舞蹈家努西(Nooshi)的引導(dǎo)下開始學(xué)習(xí)并愛上了街舞,這里指的是微軟挑戰(zhàn)谷歌的主導(dǎo)地位,希望谷歌也能在人工智能聊天機(jī)器人領(lǐng)域的競賽中取得新突破。)。
據(jù)美國全國廣播公司財(cái)經(jīng)頻道(CNBC)報(bào)道,谷歌員工在一個(gè)內(nèi)部論壇上批評(píng)了包括首席執(zhí)行官桑達(dá)爾·皮查伊在內(nèi)的公司領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人,稱推出Bard無比倉促,整件事做得一塌糊涂。
不滿情緒甚囂塵上,員工們最近收到了提醒:谷歌白手起家。蘇珊·沃西基(Susan Wojcicki)周四宣布,她將辭去谷歌旗下油管(YouTube)的首席執(zhí)行官一職。1998年,沃西基將她的車庫租給了谷歌聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人拉里·佩奇(Larry Page)和謝爾蓋·布林(Sergey Brin),作為他們新搜索引擎項(xiàng)目的研發(fā)基地。她隨后加入了該公司,并在公司的迅速崛起中發(fā)揮了關(guān)鍵作用。
毫無疑問,谷歌在最初幾年的發(fā)展超出了所有人的預(yù)期。但如今,塞沙德里在他的文章中指出,谷歌內(nèi)部存在一種“集體錯(cuò)覺”,認(rèn)為該公司仍是出類拔萃的,而實(shí)際上,大多數(shù)人都在私下抱怨公司整體效率低下。
他寫道,作為谷歌員工,“你不會(huì)每天醒來都在想,你應(yīng)該如何做得更好,你怎樣做客戶才能得到更優(yōu)質(zhì)的服務(wù),你如何才能把工作做得更盡善盡美。相反,你認(rèn)為你正在做的事情已經(jīng)很完美了,而且沒有其他更好的方法了?!?/p>
如果他的看法是對(duì)的,而且許多人認(rèn)為ChatGPT或類似的工具最終將挑戰(zhàn)谷歌的搜索引擎主導(dǎo)地位,那么專注于創(chuàng)造價(jià)值可能已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠了。
谷歌沒有立即回應(yīng)《財(cái)富》雜志的置評(píng)請(qǐng)求。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
Google is a “once-great company” that has “slowly ceased to function” thanks to its bureaucratic “maze.”
Those strong words come courtesy of Praveen Seshadri, a former Google software engineer who shared his thoughts about the tech giant this week in a lengthy?essay on Medium. Seshadri joined Google after it acquired AppSheet, a startup he co-founded, in early 2020. He left the company last month, according to his?LinkedIn profile.
In his essay, Seshadri criticizes Google’s bosses and employees alike for losing sight of what’s important—namely, the user. While “respect the user” remains a core Google value, Seshadri writes, in practice “risk mitigation trumps everything else.”
It’s understandable, he concedes, given that everything at Google has gone “wonderfully” for years thanks to a “money-printing machine called ‘Ads’ that has kept growing relentlessly every year, hiding all other sins.”
The problem, according to Seshadri, is that Google employees don’t go to work each day thinking they serve users or customers. Instead, they serve something internal to Google, be it a process, a technology, a manager, or other employees.
“Working extra hard or extra smart,” he writes, “doesn’t create any fundamental new value in such a world.”
If the focus were on value creation, he contends, it would “change the equation” at Google. Instead, the focus is on potential risk, which is seen in “every line code you change” and “anything you launch,” resulting in layer upon layer of processes, reviews, and approvals.
In terms of career development within Google, he writes, “any disagreement with the management chain is career risk, so always say yes to the VP, and the VP says yes to the senior VP, all the way up.”
For Google, Seshadri’s essay comes at a sensitive time. Last week,?shares of parent company Alphabet tumbled after Google shared a video demonstrating its?upcoming service Bard, an artificial intelligence chatbot similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In the video, Bard delivered an inaccurate response to a question about the James Webb Space Telescope.
Microsoft has invested heavily in OpenAI, and earlier this month it launched an upgraded version of its Bing search engine that offers ChatGPT-like responses in addition to traditional search results. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella?told?The Verge this month that while Google is still the “800-pound gorilla,” he hopes his company’s A.I. moves will make his rival “come out and?show that they can dance.”
Google employees took to an internal forum to criticize company leaders, including CEO Sundar Pichai, for what they described as a rushed, botched job of announcing Bard,?CNBC reported.
Amid such dissatisfaction, employees recently received a reminder of the company’s earliest days as a scrappy startup. Susan Wojcicki announced Thursday that she’s retiring from her role as CEO of Google’s YouTube. In 1998, Wojcicki rented her garage to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as a place where they could work on their nascent search engine project. She then joined the company and played key roles in its rapid rise.
Few doubt that Google in those early years exceeded all expectations. But today, Seshadri argues in his essay, there is a “collective delusion” within Google that the company is still exceptional, when in fact most people quietly complain about the overall inefficiency.
As a Google employee, “you don’t wake up everyday thinking about how you should be doing better and how your customers deserve better and how you could be working better,” he writes. “Instead, you believe that things you are doing already are so perfect that they are the only way to do it.”
If he’s right, with many believing ChatGPT or similar tools will eventually challenge Google’s search dominance, that may no longer be enough.
Google did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.