
Larry Page already cracking the whip at Google, a week before he takes the reins - acangiano
http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/25/larry-page-whip/
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moderation
I used to work at Cisco where every meeting was delayed as every participant
would set up their laptop and then proceed to type, surf, "do email" etc.
during the meeting. Crazy. I work at a big bank now where the laptop in
meetings thing is frowned upon. The meetings generally start on time, are
shorter and people generally respect meeting start and finish times.

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Bootvis
I'm very surprised to hear about people bringing laptops to meetings. I've
never seen this happen (where I live). It seems to be disrespectful and
contraproductive. You're there to talk and think right?

Who does this and why?

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muhfuhkuh
At the fairly large (2000+ employees) software company I currently work for,
we use the laptops to drill down bug defect lists, customer/partner requests,
look at waterfall development schedules and gantt charts, random email
responses, wiki pages with specs and reqs, and use collaborative notepad to
write up status updates.

Some people are working (coding, testing, answering customers, etc.) while
others are surfing/facebooking/tweeting; but the latter doesn't really last at
this company. They flail pretty quickly, likely prior to their first major
product release.

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thewordpainter
For efficiency's sake, I love the idea of directing managers to keep emails
under 60 words. As David Allen described in Getting Things Done, if it takes
you more than two minutes to address a note, put it off. Every email should be
addressable as they come through.

Also think the no-laptop rule during meetings is important for a company like
Google that has so many defections. I've experienced for myself how much of a
distraction open laptops can be. Need everybody to think creatively.

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nakkiel
IMHO, Google's biggest problem is people who think Google has loads of
problems.

For example, when Google releases a product that's certainly not perfect but
at least as good as that of its concurrents (Buzz for example), it doesn't
take off when people keep bashing it.

~~~
nostrademons
Is that any different from an unknown web startup?

Typically, you can't be "at least as good as a competitor" if you want
adoption, you need to be 10x as good. I guess the difference is that with
Google, people will pay attention to it but bash it, while at a startup,
they'll just ignore it. Personally, I think Google gets the better end of the
deal.

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mark_l_watson
A bit off topic: while I am confident that Page will do a great job in his
role, I think that if Eric Schmidt really does take on just a minor role at
Google then that will hurt the company.

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Hominem
Don't think he is going far enough.

1) all memos through Twitter "@google plz blklst @expertsexchange" 2)no
laptops on premesis, typing must be done after hours. 3) hire expensify CEO as
director of HR and "chief alienation officer"

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maeon3
The notion of Larry Page becoming the President's "Commerce secretary" scares
me. The last thing we need is our google-cars, google-os computers, android-
phones, basically every aspect of our lives controlled by one company which
then hands over control to a government that is moving towards socialism.

The moment Google shows any sign of linking up and synchronizing/cooperating
with the government, that is the moment google becomes my enemy. On the plus
side, if the president does start changing how things are done at Google, then
it won't be long before Google dies and some other better company comes to
provide a superior service.

~~~
danvk
The article says that Eric Schmidt may become Commerce Secretary, not Larry
Page.

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preek
There's a typo in the youtube link: <http://ww.youtube.com/>

