Google incubates ideas at workplace

BANGALORE: There are aeroplanes hanging from the ceiling,round the corner, you might bump into a blue Chelsea football club banner, while teddy bears, soft toys and trains are all over the place. You can even walk around in sportswear and shorts.

A casual walk around the Google workplace might have you believe you're in Disneyland. There are aeroplanes hanging from the ceiling; round the corner, you might bump into a blue Chelsea football club banner, while teddy bears, soft toys and trains are all over the place. You can even walk around in sportswear and shorts.

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The only difference is, this isn't a playhouse. Then again, perhaps it is. This is one way the Google HR team can 'romanticise the passion for work' and help churn out innovations. 'The chilled out, fun-loving atmosphere of Google encourages conversations between employees and helps them feel more comfortable and special,' says Manoj Verghese, Google HR head for JAPAC.

At this workplace, there are chess boards, table tennis, carrom boards and musical instruments which help cement the synergy between employees. Massage chairs, swings and bubble chairs hanging from ceilings where employees and clients can sit, conduct their board meetings, or have a tete-a-tete just ramps up the creativity quotient, say employees. Each employee has at least two large screens that double up as a workstation. Employees also discuss their ideas in zones which look like 'baithaks' or informal seating arrangements, with treasure chests, coloured cushions and mattresses. Employees often sit cross-legged on mattresses.

The results are there for all to see. Lalitesh Katragadda of Google Engineering says most of his innovations come up during conversations at work, with the environment facilitating them.

'One of our major projects was recently born during a breakfast conversation,' says Rahul Roy Chowdhury, senior product manager. Mr Chowdhury is one of the innovators of the Google Transliteration IME (Input Method Editor), a software that allows users to type words phonetically in any of 15 Indian languages using an English keyboard. 'We have now done work for other languages as well such as Arabic, Russian and Persian,'he says.

His team probably hit upon this idea while exploring the micro-kitchen or the cafeteria at the company?s Bangalore campus. There's quite a spread awaiting employees here for free. Employees may still prefer to have the chocolates, fruits, cookies, potato chips, ice-cream and corn flakes, but care is taken to make the food nutritious.

Employees see a method in their unconventional settings, and a reason for what they do. Earlier, innovations used to come from the West. Now, it's the reverse, says Katragadda, who co-founded Google India and helped start several projects, including Google Finance and Hindi Transliteration. He now leads a crew of engineers who conceived and developed the Map Maker, currently available in around 200 countries. With Map Maker, Google plans to map the entire world and make it accessible to everyone in a few years' time.

Rutvik Doshi, product manager at Google, who created a Google search application for mobile phones, says a peaceful environment can help creative juices flow. There is transparency in communication and everyone contributes to your idea to make it better, he says.

Conversations also help in easing frayed nerves, says Manik Gupta, product manager at Google. Mr Gupta is working on an platform that help people reach places using a landmark-based direction system. We have launched it in India and now, other countries are also interested, says Mr Gupta.