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10 Rules for Product Design From Google X
And a moonshot state of mind
Google became Alphabet in 2015. The goal of this rebranding was to diversify Google’s activities in other fields. Google is now a branch of Alphabet composed of the search engine, Android, Youtube, and Google ads. It is the money maker for the other companies of Alphabet that focus mainly on research and future technologies.
One of these companies is called Google X and focuses on “major technological advancement”. Breakthrough technologies are being made right now by inventors, entrepreneurs, and engineers in a lab located in Mountain View, California.
Google X is described as a semi-secret research and development facility. Projects are kept secret to give freedom to people working on them. Projects are revealed only after a design was found and that technological innovations are working well.
Some products that were made public are :
- Waymo, a self-driving car project started in 2009 that operate at the highest level of autonomy on some designated roads for about 5 years
- Loon, balloons floating near space that should provide internet in underdeveloped countries
- Verily, wearable devices such as contact lens that should give medical information to doctors
These concepts, these products are the result of a mindset that X doesn’t hide and consists of ten points.
Aim for 10X, not 10%
The point of this advice is to motivate people in doing things. It’s much more fun to work to disrupt something than it is to barely improve it. When working on a problem, people need to aim for a solution that is 10 times better in every possible way. We tend to limit ourselves due to budget limitations or technical difficulties. Projects evolve slowly and companies improve one thing at a time making things 10% better at best.
Our very society always reminds us to be patient, to play safe, and not to dream too much. But in an ideation phase, nothing should limit creativity. Google X may work on…
