Yep, the Brin effect- he'd come into projects that were well along and undermine them by saying "why don't you just..." and then everybody would pivot to his idea, which was rarely practical enough to work.
I disagree. If the group encounters any institutional blockers, Brin can wave them away instantly. Of course, he can slow things down as well presumably because he's not a SME.
I feel like someone with his experience and background should have the self awareness to help avoid that scenario. However I agree it's still a possibility...
I think he believes he’s the ultimate unblocker. Just find all the points of friction and wave a wand and cut through the bureaucracy, force supporting teams to help, force facilities to fix weird problems, etc.
A tiny example I heard: he overheard an employee (who was working on some urgent project he parachuted into) complaining that it was hard working late in this particular office because the closest microkitchen had slim pickings by the end of the day. He stops the conversation and asks a few followup questions. For the rest of the project it was always fully stocked with all the best snacks and drinks, milk and cereal always topped off, fruit always available, etc. I don’t remember the exact details (it’s been a decade since I heard this story) but I remember thinking it went above and beyond what I had available close to my own desk. They thought the dinner spread at the closest cafeteria got better too, but they didn’t know if it was a coincidence or if he made it happen.
I’m sure there’s a ton of the “the boss said something and we’re overreacting” effect. But so much of Google has ossified and slowed that I’m sure it’s also helpful to have a walking sudo command to make the org work for you.
From what I hear, he directly expedited an office move just to bring Gemini folks together in NYC. So that is true to some degree. Not sure about the whole picture.
I would say the exact opposite. When you take someone that smart and then they become a billionaire and spend all their time around people telling them that everything they say and do is amazing, my prior would be any self-awareness he may once have had will have evaporated long ago.
I don't see how that can make the project move faster. I wouldn't be surprised it has the opposite effect actually.
Possibly. But you surely already realized that business is a lot about "showing off", in this case showing off that AI is a matter for decision at the top level.
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I don't see how that can make the project move faster. I wouldn't be surprised it has the opposite effect actually.
Yep, the Brin effect- he'd come into projects that were well along and undermine them by saying "why don't you just..." and then everybody would pivot to his idea, which was rarely practical enough to work.
I disagree. If the group encounters any institutional blockers, Brin can wave them away instantly. Of course, he can slow things down as well presumably because he's not a SME.
They just need him on speed dial for that, not physically present breathing down their necks.
I feel like someone with his experience and background should have the self awareness to help avoid that scenario. However I agree it's still a possibility...
I think he believes he’s the ultimate unblocker. Just find all the points of friction and wave a wand and cut through the bureaucracy, force supporting teams to help, force facilities to fix weird problems, etc.
A tiny example I heard: he overheard an employee (who was working on some urgent project he parachuted into) complaining that it was hard working late in this particular office because the closest microkitchen had slim pickings by the end of the day. He stops the conversation and asks a few followup questions. For the rest of the project it was always fully stocked with all the best snacks and drinks, milk and cereal always topped off, fruit always available, etc. I don’t remember the exact details (it’s been a decade since I heard this story) but I remember thinking it went above and beyond what I had available close to my own desk. They thought the dinner spread at the closest cafeteria got better too, but they didn’t know if it was a coincidence or if he made it happen.
I’m sure there’s a ton of the “the boss said something and we’re overreacting” effect. But so much of Google has ossified and slowed that I’m sure it’s also helpful to have a walking sudo command to make the org work for you.
From what I hear, he directly expedited an office move just to bring Gemini folks together in NYC. So that is true to some degree. Not sure about the whole picture.
I would say the exact opposite. When you take someone that smart and then they become a billionaire and spend all their time around people telling them that everything they say and do is amazing, my prior would be any self-awareness he may once have had will have evaporated long ago.
Possibly. But you surely already realized that business is a lot about "showing off", in this case showing off that AI is a matter for decision at the top level.
So he's still taking weekends off so he can't be that worried just yet.
What? On his mega yacht?
Mega-yachts were cool in like 2016 but nowadays it's all about the private dirigibles
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