Innovation at Google

Innovation at Google
...plus a manifesto

Patrick Copeland
Google Inc.

“N
o”

Co
ve
In r
c of
idea

sea of failure

Lost In
Translation
Actual
Innovation Innovation Model
Innovation

Potential
Lost
Innovation

Top-down Democratic
Innovation Innovation
1. Create a Research Lab 1. Create an innovation culture
2. Hire a bunch of PhDs 2. Use all employees
3. Ideas: few, big & from the top 3. Ideas: lots from everywhere
4. Close and secretive 4. Open and shared environment
environment and results and results

5. Formal research proposals 5. Informal proposals – if that

6. Papers, patents, ..., products 6. Prototypes, products, ..., papers

?
Top-down Innovation Innovation
Innovation
Potential Democratic Innovation
Innovation

the innovation odds

X% of all new Y fail ...
... even if they are very well implemented

Build the
right ‘it’
vs.
Build ‘it’
right

the pretotyping manifesto

innovators beat ideas
pretotypes beat productypes
data beats opinions
doing beats talking
simple beats complex
now beats later
commitment beats committees

Ideas, ideas, ideas ..

“We need some innovative ideas!”

“Where’s the next billion dollar
idea?”

“I have an idea that will change the
world!”

Buy My Ideas

I am no Steve
Jobs, but I
dress like
him...

Patrick’s $B idea
$B idea from Alberto

Bidding starts at $1,000
Price is for idea only. There is no explicit or implicit offer of help to implement the idea. The idea may not be implemented in a cost-effective
way – possibly not at all. The seller of the idea believes that the idea is a good one, but cannot guarantee its success. Since we don’t know
all the ideas that have been thought, the originality of this idea cannot be guaranteed; it’s very possible that other people have had this idea.
This idea is non-returnable and the sale is final. No credit or refunds will be issued.

Alberto Savoia, Google Inc., Jeremy Clark, FXX Inc., Patrick Copeland, Google Inc. – All Rights Reserved

Edison and the lightbulb
What’s the big deal?
=

X
Idea: use electricity to make light

X
Idea: electricity to cause incandescence

X
Idea: vacuum + bulb to prevent burning

# of innovators
~0
=
# of ideas


Another huge problem
with ideas ...

Opinion

Idea
Opinion

Welcome to
Opinion
Thoughtland
Pop.
8

Thoughtland ive
Po sit
Where every idea can be a winner!
Fa lse


Thoughtland ve
ati
Neg
Where every idea can be loser!
se
Fal


Thoughtland k
Where every idea needs to p Thin
fit in!
ou Gr


E
S AL off
%
50 Great idea from Patrick

ly
on 95
w .
No 499
$


If you want innovation,
don’t look for ideas
(lightbulbs),

look for innovators
(Thomas Edisons).

p
ho

ty
p in
g Spot the
wo
r ks

o
et

am
pl
e
fr
om
pr
Innovator
Ex

”
op
sh
rk
Wo
ng

il
e
Ap
p
Pr
et
Exercise #1
o ty
pi

ob
“M
om
fr
e
pl
am
Ex

Spot the
Innovators

pretotypes
beat
productypes

The Innovator’s Nightmare
Spending years and millions,
to build and perfect
a product or service
that people don’t need
or want.

Building the right “it” vs.
Building “it” right

IBM & Speech-to-Text Technology

Dear Mr. Jones,

In reply to your letter dated ...

$ $$ $$
$$

X Dear Mr. Jones,

In reply to your letter dated ...

Pretendotype
Pretotype

“We love the idea of speech-to-text
and we’ll pay big $ for it
if you can built it right.”

Before After
pretotype pretotype
tests tests

Testing Your Belief

More

Belief
in Idea

Less
minutes hours days weeks months

Ideation Pretotyping Prototyping Productyping


Pretotyping
Fake it before you make it

Prototyping Pretotyping
• Investment: days, weeks • Investment: hours, days
• Main Q: Can we build it? • Main Q: Would we use it?
• Deliverable: Working • Deliverable: [Working]
prototype pretotype

Fail Fast

Compulsion to
keep going
at all costs

minutes hours days weeks months years

Time Invested

p
ho
r ks
wo
ng
pi

fr
om
pr
et
ot
y

Exercise #2
e
pl
am
Ex

Create your own
innovative Android app
paper-pretotypes

5 minutes

Park-Jerk Pretotype

Times FL
used OP
5
per
week

1 2 3 4 5
Week

“We are not retreating
– we are advancing in
another direction.”

Douglas McArthur

“Good Day”
Pretotype
Times
HI
used T
5
per
week

1 2 3 4 5
Week

Make sure you are
building the right thing
before you invest a lot in
building it right.


p
ho
r ks
wo
ng
pi

fr
om
pr
et
ot
y

Exercise #3
e
pl
am
Ex
Create your own
innovative Android
working-pretotype
using Androgen

30 minutes

Are you on the right track?
(i.e. building the right ‘it’)

Credibility

Usage data High
Pretotype
Prototype Med

Idea Low

Pr
et
ot
HITorFLOP yp
e

F.L.O.P.
Failure in
Launch
Operations or
Premise

HITorFLOP
I (people invited to try innovation)

T (people who actually try it)

R1 (return/retained users after 1 week)
R2
R4

Time

T / I = % of tried / invited
Rn/T = % of return user after n weeks
Rn+1/Rn = % of returning users loss over
time

FLOP

R1 R2 R4

Time

Huge HIT
I
T

R1
R2 R4

Time

HIT
I

T
R1
R2 R4

Time

Ditch on both sides of
the road

That’s
Let’s test
dumbest/best
500 shades
idea I’ve
of blue
ever heard


Vision vs. Hallucination

Vision Reality
Ideas Innovation Prototypes
Opinions Data


Ok, ok, but can anyone do
this? At any stage? In any
market condition?

Clone Wars
Then: Mainframe vs PC clones

Fast Following
Then: Lotus Notes vs Office

Unique Advantage
Then: AT&T vs Sprint

Unique Advantage
Now: Google Search

Iterate early & often
Invent.
Test.
Test.
Test.
Welcome to
DataVisionville
Pop. 12
Repeat.

Run multiple experiments with
small subsets of target population

I

T

R1
R2 All Googlers
R4

Time

Using the Manifesto
#1 Try some Pretotypes/Experiments

#2 Develop, launch and test ideas to small group

#3 Abandon, or Repeat #2 until you see this:

Usage Users

and/or

#4 Go pitch your idea innovation with data


L E er
SA Of
f
st Great idea from Patrick
La

ly
on 5
w 9
No 19.
$


Patrick Copeland
copeland@google.com

pretotyping.org
make sure you are building the right ‘it’ before you build ‘it’ right

Innovation at Google

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