My 2c is that something else is contributing to this problem at Google. Search advertising by far dominates revenue so that pretty much everything else is a "rounding error". So projects that aren't part of, or very tightly related to, search advertising are easy to fuck up without really any significant consequences to Google.
I mean, have millions of pissed off users when you're a startup and you're probably toast. Have millions of pissed off users at Google, and as long as they are still using Google search, and viewing webpages where Google ads are displayed, and it probably doesn't matter, at least in the short term.
> So projects that aren't part of, or very tightly related to, search advertising are easy to fuck up without really any significant consequences to Google.
Not only that, but Google monetarily incentivizes frequent product (re)launches - it's the quickest way of getting a promotion and/or more bonuses, but maintaining an old product does nothing for your career or your team (unless you're Search). At some point, I assume the Google brand will lose enough goodwill that someone in leadership will finally address this.
Disclaimer: I'm not a Googler, but information on how Google measures performance and promotes staff is pretty much public information now.
I mean, have millions of pissed off users when you're a startup and you're probably toast. Have millions of pissed off users at Google, and as long as they are still using Google search, and viewing webpages where Google ads are displayed, and it probably doesn't matter, at least in the short term.