Here is a thought provoking article from Bob Cringely wherein he argues that Google is sowing seeds to its eventual destruction. While I don’t think that Google is anywhere close to its demise, the article has interesting pointers on the sustainability of business ideas generated by its employees in 20% of their work time.
Now, I work in an MNC and I know the pressures when you have to execute a new idea – Is it the right business? Is the timing right? What are the returns? So on and so forth… He hits the bulls eye when he talks about the number of ideas that Google can take to market and the hundreds of dissatisfied employees whose ideas, though top class, haven’t seen the light of the day. And yeah, he might be off on numbers but not all ideas that Google took to market are great (as shown by usage in this survey) while some good ideas might have been missed altogether.
