You may have noticed that I have referenced this book in several posts before. Obviously, I am just now posting a review, so to answer that question in the back of your head, yes, I just now finished the book.
This might sound crazy, but I started reading this book back when it came out in the fall of 2014. Yikes. That was over two years ago now! So why is it that it took me so long to actually finish the book? Is it because I found it so dripping with useful information that I let it all sink in over time? Or was I just being lazy about it? We'll answer those questions and more down in the review below.
DECENT INFORMATION FROM ONE OF THE BEST COMPANIES IN THE WORLD...
Being one of the most influential organizations in the world, there is no doubt that authors Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg have valuable things to say in this book. Schmidt, having been the now-former CEO of Google, shares insights on some of the core principles and practices the tech giant adheres to on a day-to-day basis. This ranges from things like how Google chooses to do their hiring to their innovative process in developing cool, new products.
A lot of this information is interesting to know, and the title is very befitting. This book is called How Google Works, not How Your Company Can Emulate Google in X Number of Ways. Nevertheless, there are still pieces of practical application in the book that anybody can take to heart. For example, Schmidt and Rosenberg offer valuable advice on good ways to communicate to people, whether it be electronically or in person. Perhaps my favorite part of the book is a section toward the end entitled "Fail Well", which encourages companies to not be afraid to try new things even if they all don't pan out. This is at the heart of agile methodology, which is something near and dear to me.
...BUT IT'S ALL A LITTLE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good information in this book, but it's a little on the fantastical side. What I mean is that Google is Google. Constantly throughout the book, you'll hear the authors refer to their employees as "smart creatives". I'm concurrently reading another book, Work Rules!, that details the hiring of these folks at Google. To summarize, Google doesn't hire any less than the best, and a quick query on Glassdoor.com shows that Google compensates people accordingly. (Aka they get the big bucks.)
In other words, Google has the money to pay for industry leaders, and industry leaders clearly aren't your run-of-the-mill employee.
I have no problem with the idea of giving people the freedom to do their work and communicate with all levels of leadership. But the reality is that we still largely live in an industrialist mindset. People, on a large scale, don't necessarily care about freedom. So long as they're treated fairly and get a paycheck, they want to punch in, do what they're told, and punch out. (For more on this, check out Seth Godin's book Linchpin.)
That said, I would have liked to see how they encourage people to strive for the better. Information on how to turn a 9-to-5'er into a smart creative. But it sounds to me like they don't have to do that because they hire people already of that mindset before they step foot in the door.
SO WHY DID IT TAKE ME TWO YEARS TO FINISH?
Admittedly, this one is partially on me. I'm not all that great a reader, and if a book doesn't really encapsulate my attention, it's tough for me to get through it. Nevertheless, I eventually (finally) did get to the end, and while I accept some blame, I don't take it all.
This book is written by two businessmen, and it feels like it was written by two businessmen. I'll give them a little credit: it's not as cold and sterile as a traditional business memo. They do attempt at writing at the "every man" level, but their efforts fall short here. They're not authors, and that's okay. We'll let them stick to what they do best.
Moreover, this book feels a little too... clean? I guess what I mean by that is that they don't seem to get in the weeds enough. Do they talk about some of their failures in the book? I guess you could say that, but it feels a little underhanded. Like when a person tries to couch a weakness as a strength in a job interview. I can't recall a single instance in the book where they really got into any nasty, dirty business. It almost felt like they had a lawyer standing over their shoulders reading every word they had to write.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Despite what I shared in the last section, I would still recommend this book to most people. But, as you can tell by my final rating, this isn't one of those books I'd rush out and read today. Fortunately, the information and advice is both timely and timeless, so it's not as if anything shared in here will be outdated any time soon. It'll be there when you're ready for it. Go ahead and add it to your list of future reads.
Disclaimer: This book was read cover-to-cover prior to the release of this review. For more on how I review books, check out the post behind this link.
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