Is it just me or this kind of rant-like writeups make it difficult to go through the content? While I held on to the romanticized story about the dating site, I gave up when it segued into multi-para story about Rockfeller and SC.
But I get the point and I think there is some value in Google making everyone dance every time they change their algorithm. Things might have been better if they have some kind of review board. Apparently having zero or negligible customer facing teams seems to be the norm.
I was totally riveted. Without the storytelling I would not have learned, for instance, of this gem:
"In public, Bill Gates was declaring victory [regarding the federal antitrust lawsuit], but inside Microsoft, executives were demanding that lawyers and other compliance officials — the kinds of people who, previously, were routinely ignored — be invited to every meeting. Software engineers began casually dropping by attorneys’ desks and describing new software features, and then asking, in desperate whispers, if anything they’d mentioned might trigger a subpoena. One Microsoft senior executive moved an extra chair into his office so a compliance official could sit alongside him during product reviews. Every time a programmer detailed a new idea, the executive turned to the official, who would point his thumb up or down like a capricious Roman emperor."
But I get the point and I think there is some value in Google making everyone dance every time they change their algorithm. Things might have been better if they have some kind of review board. Apparently having zero or negligible customer facing teams seems to be the norm.