I agree, but these ideas come to fruit, mainly b/c there are a lot of smart people working at google and keep the mediocre factor low.
In any big company, as soon you get few idiots as managers, they will start hiring even bigger idiots, lowering productivity, increasing political b.s and chronyism -which tends to kill inovation from below. Most decissions are done in upper management level, from people with fancy titles as VPs of something, who often are disascotiated from reality and the user base, or favorise poor ideas and products b/c it suits better their career. In these companies, where Top down level approach of management exists, the engnieers take a back seat.
At google, despite its large size, it still manages to have a bottom up aproach to new products and ideas.
I believe that there are two factors which influence likelihood of a bozo explosion. The first is the organisation's rate of expansion. The second is the quality of human resources.
Regarding the rate of expansion, it is widely known that a company which repeatly grows at 100% per year is consumed by bozos. However, an organisation which does not expand may also be consumed by bozos. This is because the superstars don't wish to remain in a company which is mere "treading water" and therefore the quality of staff declines. It is very likely that the optimal rate of expansion is small and steady on the basis that it is better to not hire at all rather than hire badly.
Regarding human resources, if you've got a company with 100 staff then it is logical to delegate hiring. At this point, hiring takes a life of its own. After human resources personnel are added or replaced, you'll have people who've been hired by people who've been hired by people that you hired personally. If you're not careful then new hires could be of any quality.
Google has been relatively close to 100% expansion in some years. So, I'd argue that Google's human resources is closely monitored. Indeed, you could take an educated guess and say that the success of hiring could be monitored with an algorithm. Maybe this is a ranking algorithm? It is also extremely probable that job applications are filtered automatically.
Google seems to have a Darwinian approach to innovation. Perhaps it works. These success stories are the ones that thrived and made it to the next generation. It's nice to hear for every Google News there is unmentionable projects. I wonder if Google has a technical caste system similar to MSFT.
In any big company, as soon you get few idiots as managers, they will start hiring even bigger idiots, lowering productivity, increasing political b.s and chronyism -which tends to kill inovation from below. Most decissions are done in upper management level, from people with fancy titles as VPs of something, who often are disascotiated from reality and the user base, or favorise poor ideas and products b/c it suits better their career. In these companies, where Top down level approach of management exists, the engnieers take a back seat.
At google, despite its large size, it still manages to have a bottom up aproach to new products and ideas.