When Googlers move to a new office or desk -- as they do about once every 90 days -- they begin trading like nearby employees within about six weeks. Information exchanges obviously are happening within a few feet of employees' desks.
Google traditionally liked to seat people as close together as possible, but had been moving away from that ideal a little bit, Cowgill said. The prediction markets confirmed that placing employees near one another was the right way to go.
As a philosophical matter, Google likes to "pack people in tight . . . so they can share information," Cowgill said. "As a company gets larger, people don't always adhere to the founding tenets, or if they're in a big building they'll spread out because it's more comfortable. This was something where we could say 'there's value and we can measure that, and we can compare it to what it's like when people e-mail.'"
Related news, commentary, and predictions:
- Prediction: Google's stock price will be below $500 per share by end of Q1
- Prediction: Google's stock price will be back above $700 per share by end of Q1
- Prediction: Google acquires Plaxo
- Prediction: FaceBook will release an AdSense competitor
- News: Facebook hires away Google online ad vice president
- News: Gates: Google not a threat to hosted services
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Reprinted with permission from Networld World. Story copyright 2008 Networld World Inc. All rights reserved.
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