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The conventional wisdom is that this cycle happens not because it works for Google as an entity but it happens as a byproduct of how promotions and compensation work within Google (heavily based on new product launches).

I have no idea if this is actually true and/or if it was ever true based on personal experience (never worked at Google) but I've heard it repeatedly including from some seemingly reliable sources.

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I remember when Google was waaay smaller the sorts of goodwill projects like Gmail were required. Engineers had to work on side projects in part of their paid time. I've worked at a couple of companies that supported a "10% time" for side projects that was inspired by this. So products like Podcasts might be like a mutation of that earlier company culture.

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