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Jonathon Rochelle @ FOWA Feb 07
- 1. How and Why We Built Google Docs & Spreadsheets Jonathan Rochelle Product Manager Presenter Name 1 Title 1 Presenter Name 2 Title2 Google Confidential and Proprietary 1
- 2. Agenda • Background, History, Key Feature Goals • Quick Demo • General Architecture • Decisions, Decisions • Lessons Learned Expect: Focus on Spreadsheets…. Product Manager view… Google Confidential and Proprietary 2
- 3. “When will we….” “We have nothing to announce at this time” Google Confidential and Proprietary 3
- 4. History – How it all began… • Step 1 of any good product: … Pick a killer cool name! “Google… d use onf …Docs… ill be c dy w obo …&… …and… n ast at le…Spreadsheets” !! … Google Confidential and Proprietary 4
- 5. History of Google Docs & Spreadsheets • Who Cares?... It’s actually a Start-up Acquisition story… • 2005 – 2Web Technologies / XL2Web joins Google. • Mar 2006 – Upstartle / Writely joins Google. • Jun 2006 – Google Spreadsheets lauched in Labs • Aug 2006 – Writely Re-opens registration (mostly Googlised) • Oct 2006 – Google Docs & Spreadsheets Launched • Feb 2007 – 14 languages… Google Confidential and Proprietary 5
- 6. Background: Why Google Docs & Spreadsheets • It actually fits well with our mission… • “Organize My Information… and… • Make it Accessible and Useful… • With whomever I choose (and nobody else, thanks)” • IOW…. • Do-it-yourself Content Creation • Accepted/Familiar Interface of Spreadsheets and Documents • Accessibility from anywhere (…connected) • Easy-to-use Collaboration • Do-it-yourself Community Creation • It’s not “On the web”… it “Is the web”… Google Confidential and Proprietary 6
- 7. Key Target Features • Collaboration with others on the same document/spreadsheet • In Real-time... Without proliferation of versions / copies (email, etc) • Online Storage - Accessible “Anywhere”. • Publishing • People who already create content become publishers. • API for development of specific-use apps • The collaborative UI component of any product • To extend features offered • To integrate with 3rd party products • To offer new vertical applications Google Confidential and Proprietary 7
- 8. One Overriding Product Goal… EASY TO USE be Google Confidential and Proprietary 8
- 9. Quick Demo • Google Docs & Spreadsheets Google Confidential and Proprietary 9
- 10. … a screen shot from the end of the last demo Google Confidential and Proprietary 10
- 11. General Architecture • Server-side calculation engine – lighten the client… • Ajax client • Collaboration Layer • Storage Layer • Infrastructure & Shared Services (aka “everything else”) Google’s infrastructure provides “cheap scale”…. ….. just add water (machines)… The team stays focused on features and integration. Google Confidential and Proprietary 11
- 12. Ajax Client • Well-defined communication protocol to server • Push calculation logic to the server side • Browser challenges… (heavy sigh) • Perceived speed – pay me now or pay me later… • Ajax stinks! • Ajax is great! • Event triggering hell… • Nice browser-based UI! • 300k web pages! • No Plug-ins! • Experimentation at best… • Multi-Platform via the Browser! Google Confidential and Proprietary 12
- 13. Decisions, Decisions… • Who is our initial user? The Spreadsheet user or the person who could use spreadsheets but doesn’t yet know it? • What are the must have V1 features? • Collaboration features – rich conflict resolution or simple “trust me” collaboration • Integration Choices (which Google products, when?) • Technical Decisions: • Storage services… which fits best? • Stateful vs. stateless • “Homing” – how to split the load and give high resiliency. Google Confidential and Proprietary 13
- 14. Feedback from the Users • Give us more specific features: • Freeze Columns, Drag&Drop, Range Names, Cross Spreadsheet links, Autofilter,Charting, etc… • Give us improvements to current features: • More sorting options, more edit controls, more ACL controls, easier inserting rows, Copy / Paste issues, group invitations, etc… • Give us integration with more Google (and non-google) services… • “…but, we’re not whining!... We love this product!” • “This product has changed our lives” • “we don’t know how we managed without the product” Google Confidential and Proprietary 14
- 15. Lessons Learned (part 1) • Get UI help… and get it early • UI Innovation can make a stellar success (or failure) • Front-end code is very dependent on the desired UI behaviors • Users don’t enjoy guessing what icons mean. – PM’s do not make good icons. Choose a Font Wrap Text Share Clear Format Elevator Doors Closing / Opening Merge / Un-merge Cells Google Confidential and Proprietary 15
- 16. Lessons Learned (part 2) • Test new ideas with users early… • Nobody cared to “Pan” their spreadsheet like a map. • Use Test Harnesses, Automation and Benchmarks - early • This works on the client side and server side. • Key for us in early Ajax experimentation, and re-testing • Speed is critical • Performance improvements can ALWAYS be made... – Hint: Get someone important to say “it’s too slow” • Compromise (i.e. kill) those cool, but un-used features… Google Confidential and Proprietary 16
- 17. Lessons Learned (part 3) • The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few… or the one… • …even if that “one” is currently signing your paycheck… • Get User Feedback… and Use it as a key input to feature plans • Sometimes insight does NOT come from the user • Our biggest example was immediate/Real-time collaboration • User Data is sacred. • Don’t ever give users a reason not to trust your product (even internal users) Google Confidential and Proprietary 17
- 18. Lessons Learned (part 4) • Provide a very specific value that users can describe • “it’s amazing! I must be able to use this somewhere!” … …is very different than • “it’s amazing! This product will improve productivity by 80%!” • Focus on features which align with your product’s value • For example, collaboration and sharing are critical to Google Docs & Spreadsheets. • Talk to users… • Gather plenty from early users - if they represent your target • Look for new targets/angles/verticals as the product is used Google Confidential and Proprietary 18
- 19. Final Lesson Learned • The team is the most important thing • Have partners • Pick the right partners – Shared vision – Complementary skills, covering all the necessary activities • Build a great team – Never compromise • Don’t hire for everything - Buy services – Don’t always assume you have to do it yourself. Google Confidential and Proprietary 19
- 20. Q&A • Google Docs & Spreadsheets: •http://docs.google.com • Google APIs: •http://code.google.com • Spreadsheets API: •http://code.google.com/apis/spreadsheets/overview.html Google Confidential and Proprietary 20