Google has been developing products on a high scale. From hardware (Google Glass) to software and online products (from search to Wave), Google has a large number of developer teams that think, design, develop and test various products in their research houses.
According to Business Insider, Google "dogfoods" its own products, internally, in a pattern similar to a lot of other companies. What it means is that Google often tests their gadgets and products for bugs and errors before releasing it to public. This way, they can validate their worth, give feedback and get suggestions on their capabilities and the products. Dogfooding helps designers and engineers spot problems before going public.
"To get a product to launch, you have to garner the will of a bunch of Googlers," one former Google exec says. "So, it had to be something that Googlers would want to use."
"I really believe products over-index to what a Googler would want, so that dogfooding goes well," he says. It's easy to add features that appeal to engineers, so those features end up shipping, even if they may not be valuable to a wider audience. "Products that should be so simple and easy end up 'nerdy.'"
The report goes ahead to state that one former Google employee mentions that he encourages his team of designers to do a ‘drunk test’ when dogfooding the products. In other words, they are offered a few beers and then told to try it. This helps fight their assumptions about the level of awareness and attention that users would have when dealing with Google products.
The main reason behind this is because most products developed at Google are done on developer and designer level, which is definitely easy for them to use, but not as easy for general public to adapt. In order to know if a non-techie or a general person is going to use the product, they need to get a bit tipsy to ‘almost’ mimic a novice user for the product.
So do you want to work at Google too?
