Google and ambition

A good example of [making what you really want](http://ryskamp.org/brain/design/how-to-design-concepts) is found in [the recent New Yorker article on Google](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/01/14/080114fa_fact_auletta?printable=true):

One thing I like a lot about the company is that the founders–and the company–have gotten more ambitious over time. Every time we meet a goal, they extend it. You’d think that would be normal, but many companies seem content to consolidate their initial strengths–the “innovator’s dilemma”.

> Page said that the engineers were not ambitious enough. Brin agreed, and said that the proposals were “muddled” and too cautious.

> “We wanted something big,” Page added. “Instead, you proposed something small. Why are you so resistant?”

> The head of the engineering team said that the founders’ own proposed changes would be too costly in money, time, and engineering talent.

> Schmidt–the only person at the meeting wearing a tie–tried to summarize their differences. He noted that Brin and Page wanted to start by deciding the outcome, while the product team focussed first on the process, and concluded that the engineering would prove too “disruptive” to achieve the goal.

> “I’m just worried that we designed the wrong thing,” Brin said. “And you’re telling me you’re not designing the optimum system. I think that’s a mistake. . . . I’m trying to give you permission.”

> …Schmidt says, “They think about what should be, and they assume it is possible.”

Sounds good to me…