Relentless Innovation

The mantra at Google is 'release early, iterate often'. This constant evolution inevitably leads to constant innovation. It would be easy to argue that their ability to innovate is a natural result of their size and financial resources but that conclusion is short sighted. Joining companies like  3M and Apple as icons of creativity, Google continues to shape business and society all over the world.

Some innovation might seem small at times but that doesn't mean they are not relevant. For instance, after adding Java support to the AppEngine, yesterday they release a minor upgrade to their Python SDK with new libraries for cryptography. Now, that might not sound like a big deal; in fact, some will claim that it should have had it a year ago. Either way this small step continues to enable developers to create more powerful and more secure applications. One step at a time.

Meanwhile on 4/21 they launched the Google Analytics Data Export API. Granted, other web analytics vendors (e.g. Omniture) have had APIs for a long time but they are not that easy to use nor are they free. 

OK, so might still think 'two little APIs, what is the big deal?' - well the big deal is that adding 2 or 3 APIs every other day you can compile significant functionality in a couple of months. However, the real value is the way Google continues to enhance every single one of their product every single day. Release early, test, measure, improve, release again. This is non-stop. For a slightly more impressive announcement, just take a look at the following post regarding the web standard for 3D Graphics. The video is stunning but remember it is running on a web browser. 

Thank you Google for pushing the envelope. I can only hope this approach to innovation permeates through private and public organizations alike.