"Google had developed a number of people who spent much, if not all, of their time preventing change...The fear was risk and safety."
I think you nailed it here. But something to realize is that this is not unique to Google, this is true in any large corporation.
The issue is that as people develop careers within the corporation, they become interested in what is most politically expedient for said career. This means they become very averse to any situation where the individual might personally look bad.
This means that aggressive projects which could have a high level of reward and equivalent risk for the company get waylaid disproportionate to their overall risk/reward ratio.
I think your point about people not understanding the systems that they are working on compounds this idea, as it makes the risks of changing a system appear higher (because they do not know the system).
Even worse is when an entire company's strategy revolves around risk aversion. Risk management is one thing, but avoiding any possible loss in any area can make for a pretty soul crushing job experience for people who like innovation and change.
On the whole I really agree with the writers stance. But in the spirit of getting shit done, you gotta start somewhere. I personally have a tendency to do too much or start something that should never have been started on in the first place.
A start-up environment and Skynet are quite different with different objectives.
I think you nailed it here. But something to realize is that this is not unique to Google, this is true in any large corporation.
The issue is that as people develop careers within the corporation, they become interested in what is most politically expedient for said career. This means they become very averse to any situation where the individual might personally look bad.
This means that aggressive projects which could have a high level of reward and equivalent risk for the company get waylaid disproportionate to their overall risk/reward ratio.
I think your point about people not understanding the systems that they are working on compounds this idea, as it makes the risks of changing a system appear higher (because they do not know the system).