What can we learn from Google's "Ten things we know to be true"?

Most of us trust Google and its products. Unlike any other company it has grown tremendously in a short period of time, disrupting a lot of industries (not just companies!) in the process. It includes the advertisement industry, the cable and network, phone industry and books just for a start. Using strategies like giving away its products for free, making process efficient and creating a strong defense - which are its products - around it castle (Search), Google has grown and thrived.

During this process Google has plotted 10 things down which they believe to be true. As a admirer of its growth I was attracted to these 10 rules and slowly started applying in my life. I observed good changes in my life, after I consciously started following them. So below are the some of the values which we all can learn from Google in order to utilize our time in a better way and grow.

It’s best to do one thing really, really well

This is the most valuable quote of the 10 things that applies to any situation. I certainly don't believe in multi-tasking. However I agree that multi-tasking is necessary to get things done. If you want to do some solid good work then make sure that you focus only on one thing at a time. It will be hard in the beginning but once you complete the first task with all your focus then you will understand the power of this rule.

Fast is better than slow

"Perfection is the enemy of progress". Some things in life do not need perfection. For example, I used to arrange things in a neat way even though I knew that I will use them in some time. Don't waste time on all these things. As Sheryl Sandberg mentions in her book "Lean In" "Done is better than perfect". So do these things a little bit fast spending only the amount of time it requires and not being obsessive about perfection.

Democracy works

I tweaked this quote from "Democracy on the web works" to democracy works. I have not greatly experienced this but from my observation I can see that whenever there is democracy in office, people tend to perform better. The more a person is able to voice his/her opinion the better the team performs.

Don't be evil

One of the most famous quote which became not just a philosophy that Google follows but also all the Silicon Valley start ups do. It can be clearly related to someone'e life. There are a lot of situations where we tend to do something rude or wrong and then we can prevent it by just thinking about it. Whatever decision we hastily make, just take a moment's time and think about that. Provide the benefit of doubt and prevent evil.

Focus on the user and all else will follow

If you are working for a client, either in the IT, Consulting, Services or Analytics then this rule will apply to you. As a person who belongs to this crowd, I have been strongly reminded of this time to time. While we spend more time on a project we tend to divert from what the client needs. Every day when you take a decision just remind yourself as to what the client wants. Don't divert from it. When we consciously do it we could avoid a lot of unnecessary errors. If you work for a products company, focus on the end consumer and make sure your products and services are delivered keeping in mind how the end user will use it. Always focus on the user and think as a user.

There’s always more information out there

How many of us have been so negligent about the access of all the information that we have. Two years ago when I found that you can do a Online course for free and still get quality education (using Coursera) I was surprised and also felt bad that a lot of people didn't know about it. So now as a first step if I need any info on something new, I search and collect all the information that I can from the Internet.

Great just isn't good enough

When we are working on something or trying out something new do not be complacent once you reach your goals. Strive harder and improve continuously. Make sure the standards that you set are so high, that you will never reach it. How do you think Google became the first 100 billion dollars valued company? The standard that they have set for the "Search" process is so high that they strive continuously to improve it. This led them to create a lot of improvements like name searches, instant search etc.,

There are three more things in the list which I have not applied yet. They are The need for information crosses all borders, You can be serious without a suit and You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer. Do tell me if you applied it in your life and what is it that we can learn from it.