Google's portfolio now encompasses a slew of hardware and software platforms, with search as the backbone of all of them (Photo by Mark Zimmerman)
For the past 15 years, Google has been operating like a runaway freight train carrying megatons of TNT that barely rides its own rails despite the engineers saying otherwise. Occasionally, that train loses a car or two; some of them may carry an entire social media platform, weird-looking glasses, or whatever Google Cameos was. Any cars that stay are often picked off from other trains.
Nonetheless, the train still moves. AdSense is a smash-hit platform that owes most of its success to Google's management. GSuite has become a de-facto standard for workspaces. Search is building better intuitive multimedia experiences for the web. In boardrooms, classrooms and living rooms alike. Google's products have taken on a symbiotic relationship with their clientele.
Unfortunately, the train still loses cars. Google’s been through cuts in staff, shutdowns of high-profile blunders such as Stadia, hasty consolidations for services such as Hangouts and GChat, and WearOS still being a hair-pulling mess. Half of their Area 120 experimental projects division doesn’t even exist.
To both normal people and whoever used on-device Android Auto, it’s not a good look. Are they just pulling the brakes before the train crashes into the station?
It's important to analyze Google's restructuring critically.
Scrapping divisions such as Stadia and gutting Area 120 were good moves. While there was some legitimate concern around Stadia, Area 120’s projects seemed like nothing more than costly Google Graveyard fodder. Their ilk, such as Cameos and Loon Networking, were questionable investments at best. Granted, Many of those services should not have seen a broad public rollout, but post-mortem public indifference to these ill-fated projects was inevitable.
Was Google wrong to cut benefits and, as of writing, announce mass layoffs? Well, people from all these closed departments needed to go somewhere, and Google's layoffs arguably happened quite late, comparatively. When aggressive hiring accompanied the pandemic, Google irresponsibly accrued overhead. Suddenly, Googlers needed work, and for a company that's ostensibly trying to improve lagging efficiency, that's a big roadblock. Poor communication aside, it was long overdue. Other companies took such measures far earlier.
Comparatively, Google is better positioned than other cost-cutting tech giants. Their primary search and ad platforms are still competitive despite recent threats. When it comes to the core products – Chrome, YouTube, the Pixel lineup, AdSense, and many others – this overhead reduction is actually a good sign. Google is finally operating responsibly. While the messily handled layoffs are aggravating, it arguably improves focus on core teams. Consolidating redundant products like Meet and Duo last year certainly helped too.
Hopefully Google can wake up to reality going forward.
AND GOOGLE, PLEASE USE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE WEAROS LESS CONFUSING.
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