An Interview with a Genius

I respect this woman. Actually, let me rephrase that, I admire this woman.

Marissa Mayer was the first female engineer hired by Google and, nine years later, she holds the vice president of search products and user experience position at the biggest internet company of the world.

Mayer is also a key influential person at Google. Pretty much every product that Google works on has to go through her, who decides whether it's ready to be released or needs more work. She even approves every single Google Doodle that adorns the search giant's homepages around the world. She has a reputation for being brainy, precise and ambitious, obsessive even, when it comes to shaping Google's product suite.

Now, considering all her responsibilities, what i find particularly admirable is her approach towards time managing. She looks after 150 product managers, and every month 10-12 major products are pitched to her. Between 1,000 to 2,000 outside projects need to be reviewed. Usually, each team presenting to her has no more than 10 minutes to present their projects. During this time, though, they get her undivided attention – she won't check her email or take phone calls.

Aside from the official meetings, Mayer's office door is open for an hour each day, so Googlers can go in, ask questions and get more advice on a project. Of course, as her job title suggests, the focus is on the user experience. She's absolutely devoted to the needs of the 'end user' and often uses her mom as a reference point to check whether an idea is simple enough.

My point is that great ideas need time to come to life. And time management is key to do so. You need time to think and perhaps even more time to execute. But this is entirely connected to the level of care that you have towards that idea. People usually complain about not having enough time to do what they want to do but seriously, I bet in most cases it is just a matter of time management.

If you want to do something, just do it.

Here is a very interesting post from Mayer on the Google's blog.