Technology, Culture, Commentary on the Internet Revolution

WSJ Interviews Google CIO

by Mike Abundo on March 19th, 2008

Besides cracking jokes and looking like a surfer, Google CIO Douglas Merrill also serves as a model of enlightened tech management. The Wall Street Journal interviews the man who built tech infrastructure for the most tech-savvy employees on the planet.

We’re a decentralized technology organization, in that almost everyone at Google is some type of technologist. At most organizations, technology is done by one organization, and is very locked-down and very standardized. You don’t have the freedom to do anything. Google’s model is choice. We let employees choose from a bunch of different machines and different operating systems, and [my support group] supports all of them. It’s a little bit less cost-efficient — but on the other hand, I get slightly more productivity from my [Google's] employees.

He also talks about the illusion of endpoint security and the consumerization of enterprise IT. In a world where technology will become part of everyone’s job, Mr. Merrill’s model of managing technology for technologists could be the way to go for many companies.

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POSTED IN: Google