Larry Page: Anecdotes from Google

On April 28, according to foreign media reports, one day in July 2001, Larry Page decided to dismiss all Google project managers without exception.

The 22-year-old Peggy was also a graduate student at Stanford University. He was caught in a beautiful vision in the middle of the night. In the vision, he tried to download the entire network in a certain way and saw the world information in a completely new way by checking the links between the web pages. The dismissal in 2001 was only five years away.

The inspiration that Page recorded during that night became the basis of the algorithmic system. He calls it a page level and uses it to drive a web search engine called "BackRub". This name did not survive for a long time. By July 2001, BackRub was replaced by the new name "Google", which worked very smoothly. It has millions of users, a series of impressive investors, and 400 employees, including about 6 project managers.

Like most other startups, Google’s first year, there was no management between the CEO, Page and engineers. However, as the company grew and grew, management joined the team. They were able to meet with Page and other senior Google executives, and gave engineers priority orders and deadlines.

Now, 28-year-old Pecs began to hate management. Google employs only the top engineers, and Page believes that the extra supervisory layer is not only unnecessary, but also hampers Google. Page also doubts that Google's project manager makes it difficult for engineers to work on projects that are of personal importance to Page. For example, Peggy outlined a plan: scan all the world's books and make them searchable on the Internet, but somehow no one is doing it. Pech blamed the project manager.

He resolved to do some large-scale reforms. All of Google’s engineers will report to Wayne Rossing, the newly hired engineering vice president, instead of the project manager, and Rosing will report directly to Peggy himself.

Google’s human resources director is a serious woman with Liu Haier as Stacey Sullivan. According to Google's early internal observations by Douglas Edwards, author of "I'm Feeling Lucky", Sullivan was very puzzled by Page's plan, and she told her the truth. She said: "You can't be so self! People need someone who can help when they have problems!"

Page ignored her opinion.

Sullivan told Eric Schmidt about his fears. In March, Schmidt became chairman of Google. Everyone thinks that he will immediately become CEO of Google after he leaves his full-time job as Novell CEO.

Schmidt agreed with Sullivan. Page senior manager Bill Campbell also shared the same opinion. Everyone called Campbell "the coach" because he was a football coach at Columbia. His way of walking and his method of speaking are still the same as walking on the perimeter of the court.

Steven Levy described in his intriguing Google history book Inthe Plex that on a certain night, Campbell had a heated dispute with Pecs because of his plans. In order to prove his point of view, Campbell called one after the other to his office to listen to their ideas. Engineers have told Pecs that they actually want to have a manager—one who can close the differences and give the team direction.

But Peggy's mind is already decided. Shortly afterwards, Schmidt might have been an obstacle to the Pec plan. But this did not happen. Because it was July 2001, Schmidt has not officially become a CEO. So Page continued to implement his own ideas. Paige announced the appointment of Rosin as CEO, and the news caused a stir.

In the afternoon of the same day, nearly 130 engineers and 6 project managers all appeared. They are standing outside Peck’s office, between Google’s uncomfortable compartments and sofas – the office’s facilities, like other Google offices, are bought at a bargain price from failed startups.

Finally, balding and wearing glasses of Rossin began to speak. He explained that the engineering department will be reorganized: all engineers will report to him and all project managers will be fired. This message has not been retouched. The project managers were completely shocked. They have not been warned before. They were fired in front of all their colleagues.

Finally, the dismissal plan has not been implemented. The project managers that Page had planned to fire had entered Google’s growing business organization led by Urs Hözle. Page's restructuring plan did not last long. When some engineers lack supervision, problems arise. Projects that require staffing are often unattended. Layoffs were put on the agenda. Engineers are eager to get feedback and they want to know where their careers are going.

In the end, Google once again started employing project managers.

Sullivan recalled in "I'm Feeling Lucky": "I try my best to make suggestions: Management has practical value. You can set the tone through management methods. I hope this is a lesson for Larry." 2001 In August, Schmidt had completely escaped from Novell's affairs. He became the Google CEO - also known as the supervision of Page and co-founder Brin. For a long time, Larry Page was unhappy.