Pleasing Google's Tech-Savvy Staff

An anonymous reader writes "Douglas Merrill, Google Inc.'s chief information officer, is charged with answering that question. His job is to give Google workers the technology they need, and to keep them safe — without imposing too many restrictions on how they do their job. So the 37-year-old has taken an unorthodox approach. Unlike many IT departments that try to control the technology their workers use, Mr. Merrill's group lets Google employees download software on their own, choose between several types of computers and operating systems, and use internal software built by the company's engineers. Lately, he has also spent time evangelizing to outside clients about Google's own enterprise-software products — such as Google Apps, an enterprise version of Google's Web-based services including e-mail, word processing and a calendar."

Comments

All Credit to Him

[Avohir]

I've had to do IT work for tech companies before, and it's like being the caterer at a chef's convention, they always think they could do it better. That he's managed to do it with a relative degree of success at a place as eclectic and high profile as google is impressive. I think the approach is novel too, although I'm not sure how well it would apply outside of their unique company culture.

Re:All Credit to Him

[Kelbear]

I think the kinds of people Google hires are less likely to run executables and install toolbars from seedy and irreputable niches of the internet. Other companies probably can't assume the same of their employees.

Even smart people can make errors of ignorance or naivetè with regards to their computers. It's nice that they've cordoned off the system to prevent them from torpedoing the whole network at once, but you still have a mess on the other side of the wall to clean up. Most of the important stuff is probably saved where they're regularly backed up(Google sure as hell isn't going to have problems with storage space) but there's definitely going to be downtime involved.

It's probably not worth the cost and risk for most companies. If someone wants or needs something on their system, just having them ask first is a reasonable approach.

Re:I wish our IT was like this.

[pongo000]

With all the restrictions on tools and languages, it seems like our IT holds us back more often than pushing us forward.

Beware of any job where IT support calls the shots. That is an incredibly inane and inefficient business model. IT support is exactly that: They are there to support development efforts, not to hinder them with brain-damaged policies usually written and enforced by CTOs that don't have a clue and administered by low-paying drones who substitute authority for what they lack on the pay scale.

Why even bother working for a company like that? With the upswing in IT, you sound like you've got way more than enough experience to find a job elsewhere.