[macrael]

Click through to the video of their search meeting. It seems really strange to me that something like that would be made public. I mean, it is pretty content free, but why spend so much effort to show the world deliberations on how to change search?

[gojomo]

I find it amazing that there are 30-something people in the room & 9+ more by video.

Some are almost certainly checking their email or doing other things – despite the small text insert that tries to suggest they're all looking at advanced analytics about the proposed changes.

Very few speak or seem to be in a physical (or status) position where they could speak, though maybe as the topic changes, some of the giant peanut gallery gets engaged.

Altogether, it fits a lot of meeting antipatterns. When I see perplexing things like this about Google, I have to wonder: is this a counterintuitive part of the secret sauce, or an indulgence whose cost is covered up by their gusher of quasi-monopolistic profits?

[moultano]

That's a weekly meeting where proposed changes are discussed. Most of the people not speaking are there because they have a launch to present. Each one gets a lightning round of deliberation somewhat like the one in the video, a decision is made, and they move on to the next.

[jaredmck]

Because it gives a sense of transparency to the process, when in reality google is far from transparent. If they made a big deal about how no one could see the meetings behind the curtain, the secret mystique might erode some of google's goodwill in the eyes of the public - especially if the us govt got involved.

Most people, if they don't have a strong interest in tech & the Internet, only see the surface PR efforts, without having the background to notice that they're in fact heavily orchestrated PR.

The strategy certainly seems to be working thus far - but I feel they might be pushing it a bit recently. More people seem to be noticing and thinking about it.

Take a look at when google chooses to release news, especially "fun" news like robotic cars. They are great at the art of PR - which is not really a surprise if you own a tinfoil hat, because you never know - maybe they can get leading indicators through query & behavior mining across their dataset? :)