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Back to Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team | Josh Woodward (Google Labs, Gemini, AI Studio), with Josh Woodward.

When Should You Kill a Product Idea?

Josh Woodward kills a product idea when the team already knows it is failing, usually before the leader does. Passion starts to run out, the group has tried everything they can think of, and the work still is not going. People can see a project that is not working the same way they can see a relationship that is not working.

In Labs, and on features inside Gemini, the aim is a culture where someone can say the idea is not working. Yesterday the team had a Gemini feature they were excited to launch. Early data came back. People went out, looked in the eyes, and it just was not there. The product manager on the team refused the launch because it was not good. He replied to everyone and thanked her.

He trusts the people who try every day to make the product go. When they say it is not going, the next step is to pivot and try something different.

Grokipedia·Josh Woodward·Gemini

Transcript

Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team | Josh Woodward (Google Labs, Gemini, AI Studio) ·

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

More from this episode

  1. Where Do Google's Best Ideas Come From?Josh Woodward says the best ideas to come out of labs, and out of Google more broadly, arrive from a variety of places.
  2. 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.
  3. How Do You Spot Product-market Fit Early?Josh Woodward spots early product-market fit by watching people's eyes, because the early read is way more art than science.
  4. What Skills Are Rising in Value in the AI Era?Josh Woodward looks for mispriced signals in the people around him, past the usual talk of taste, judgment, and vibe coding.
  5. Should Every Employee Become a Builder?Josh Woodward says people are overhyping the idea that everybody is a builder and that the new job is all the same.
  6. Why Does Every Company Need a Frontier Team?Josh Woodward says every company needs a set of people whose job is the frontier.
  7. How Do You Set Up an Internal Labs Team?Josh Woodward gives three tips for anyone setting up an internal labs team.
  8. Will Google Have 10,000 Products or Five?Josh Woodward keeps switching his answer in a long-running debate with Logan Kilpatrick about whether Google will have 10,000 products or five in five years.
  9. Why Does Google Labs Hand Out Miniature Rakes?Josh Woodward gives Google Labs teammates a little miniature rake and a cash reward when they do the grungy work of reclaiming TPUs.

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