What Is Google Labs' Almost Possible Framework?
Josh Woodward says Google Labs keeps a list of what is almost possible and watches for the moment an experience crosses into something a team can build. Getting to the frontier means playing with the models and tracking which kinds of experiences have just opened up. That crossing is like a phase shift, a solid turning to gas. Two days before this conversation he had seen one of those shifts and had not stopped thinking about it.
When an item on the list flips, whether the signal shows up on X or somewhere else, the lab gathers a team and goes. Technology alone is not enough. The new capability has to match an interesting user problem, ideally one people will pay for. The same approach is how he would think about pitching ideas to VCs from a startup.
The list sits inside a point of view about the future. The lab writes 82 predictions, each beginning with "we believe the future is" or "we predict," across areas such as software design, creativity, work, knowledge, and entertainment. Making even one prediction is dangerous, and nine out of 10, or maybe 9.9 out of 10, will be wrong. The exercise still exists so the team chases the future instead of waiting for inspiration.
