I worked at Google for 7 years and watched the open culture die. The company is doomed to repeat unnecessary embarrassment if they don't fix it.
Business InsiderMAR 7 2024
The shift began after the controversial James Damore memo in 2017, which questioned Google's diversity practices and led to his termination, marking a departure from the company's tradition of open dialogue.
CEO Sundar Pichai effectively ended the weekly TGIF meetings in 2019, reducing opportunities for employees to ask live questions and receive direct answers from leadership.
The erosion of Google's open culture has potentially impacted product development, with examples such as the underutilization of language models in Google Assistant and issues with Gemini's image generation.
The decline of Google's open culture is detrimental to innovation and employee morale. By stifling open dialogue and discouraging challenging questions, Google risks missing critical insights and feedback that could improve its products and services. The recent issues with Gemini and the company's AI strategy demonstrate the negative consequences of this cultural shift.