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Comment by NewLogic | Hacker News Reader

Google takes not invented here to an extreme cross-team level. Their internal promotion/reward structure must be utterly broken that this exact scenario seems to keep playing out time and time again. I'm honestly surprised shareholders haven't started asking questions about the serious mismanagement of capital allocation.

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> I'm honestly surprised shareholders haven't started asking questions about the serious mismanagement of capital allocation.

I'm sorry I can't hear you over all this money roaring past my ears! Beside Adsense the rest is just a hobby/status game for employees - and it shows.

With this approach nothing else will be there besides Adsense. And when Adsense's eventual, but certain death spiral starts, there will be nothing to gently pivot to.

Though it's understandable that shareholders are just looking at the next quarter.

yup, spot on. Google is now where Microsoft was at the height of "Windows on every desktop". From the outside at least, Sundar Pichai's leadership looks increasingly like Steve Balmer's: operational management by numbers. Quarter on glowing quarter of extensive profit to keep the analysts and investment funds happy. But under the covers, no obvious progress on anticipating, or even creating, "next". It almost killed Microsoft, saved only when Balmer was pushed out.

Yes. Google sort of reminds me of Saudi Arabia, economically.

If only Saudi Aramco IPO'd they could have diversified with that capital, now it's the usual business plus some fantasy high tech 'planned city'. Was it all an ambitious failed dream?

Murdering dictatorships seem to have a problem letting go of control. So I'm saying yes, they had the wrong people advising them.

Ignoring the giant elephant that Saudi Arabia didn't even feign "don't be evil", in order to engage in global market capital. Not even temporarily during the IPO, they could have put on their good face to the western world.

Instead the top down crafting this IPO gave the "okay" to murder to WaPo journalist and create a global PR disaster because their feelings got hurt.

Yet as you mention they still need to diversify, eventually. I wonder how it all will turn out looking back in 5-10yrs.

I read somewhere the other day that Hydrogen was Saudi's new plan, or maybe another plan.

The grim reality is that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi probably wouldn't have materially influenced the IPO price. (Trump did not care after all.)

Google, Amazon, etc.

The reward structure for quite a few of these (FAANG) companies is geared towards launching new features and/or products.

There is little incentive to improve existing software (as an IC). Which is why, for example, every "feature" at Amazon has a press release.

Behind every press release is a promotion for someone.

I think that's a bit unfair on Amazon. Amazon has a lot of incentives for teams to maintain existing products and their core infrastructure, and Google just seem to completely lack that.

It makes you wonder, what’s the incentive to have a promo structure that only favours launching new features.

Is it that new products/features == growth in share value for shareholders?

Anything that helps distract the public from the fact that they're an ad company is good for Google and their shareholders.

Too large a company. Their cross-team is like other's cross-company.

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