We all know that recently Google released their latest attempt at world wide web dominion through Google Buzz. Some are aflutter with it. Yes, I tried it myself. And I have to conclude as Daniel Lyon’s recent Newsweek post concluded that it’s more like buzz kill.
I tried it out, but I just didn’t get it too much myself. I have Facebook. And I’m on Twitter. And for now, that seems to be enough.
And if we look at other recent Google offerings, many have felt equally unimpressed.
Some History First
Let’s go back in recent history, here. It seemed like just a few weeks ago everybody was dying to have a Google Wave invite. Some people attempted to sell theirs on eBay without too much success. All the brouhaha has calmed down, but the question must be asked: did they succeed in revolutionizing the way we do email? Not yet, anyway.
What about Google Voice? Remember, you could sign up for it and you’d get a number where people could call and you could get your messages texted to you or something. I don’t really remember. Where did that end up? Not too far.
And does anybody remember Orkut? Google’s first attempt at a social network? I think mine is still floating around cyber-space somewhere.
I think some would look at what Google has put out recently and conclude that they’ve failed on some levels. I assume that there were decent development costs associated with them, and for what? To tickle and intrigue the fancy of uber-geeks (myself included)? Surely, it’s all been a huge failure and waste of money.
But…I think churches and ministries can learn quite a bit from what Google has done.
Failure
For one, they’re not afraid to fail. They’ll try something to see if it sticks to the wall. And if it doesn’t, well, they just seem to move on.
But this is a huge point, because it’s exactly what keeps many people, churches, and ministries standing still: they’re afraid to fail.
There’s too much money involved.
There’s no way to tell how many it will reach.
We’ve never done it that way before (the seven last words of a dying church).
I think for their willingness to try something they should be applauded. Because if and when some of these things do take off, they’ve already perfectly positioned themselves strategically.
Apple does the same thing. But they just look further into the future than Google does. Google seems to pounce on something to make it better once something is a hit. Apple looks at a market that seems to be a failure and produces a seeming quantum leap in technology. Sometimes it doesn’t work, as in the Newton, and sometimes it revolutionizes and sparks a whole industry (iPhone).
So is failure something keeping us from moving forward? What can be done about it?
Adam Shields says
I actually really like google voice. The transcriptions aren’t great, but I can usually tell what the person wants. And it gives me a local number that works (when my cell phone-only phone) isn’t local to where I am located.
JayCaruso says
Like Adam, I am a big fan of Google Voice. I use it for my photography business. The transcriptions are really bad. So bad that they are funny to read. Still, it’s the most useful of all the Google releases from this past year, and probably the one that arrived with the least hype.
Rodlie says
Yeah, I think I’ll give it another whirl sometime…
Josh Miles says
“We’ve never done it that way before (the seven last words of a dying church).”
Indeed. If there is a ‘nail on the head’ statement, it’s this one.
The fear of failure will always be the biggest hurdle for any ministry, I think. We (the church) like to do more copying than innovating, and I think that reflects poorly on a supremely creative God that we serve. Shouldn’t his people look similar?
Rodlie says
Big time!
danielcberman says
They should look similar, absolutely! I think the big challenge is that we have forgotten what creativity is and what it means to apply that creativity to real world challenges. And yes, we are afraid of failure; I can testify it’s a big time issue in my own life.
Noel Coleman says
This is a HUGE topic. I mean, books have been written on this topic. (I like Failing Forward by John Maxwell) But there are some issues here. You mention Google and Apple. Something they have that most don’t have…$20B-$30B in cash reserves. (Well…no church I know of has this) So yeah, they can be a bit fearless. But then comes the counter – isn’t being fearless what got them here?
What I’d say is that yes, churches should be more willing to fail. But they should also make sure that they are hiring the best and the brightest so that when they take a chance it isn’t done from a perspective of ignorance, but from keen insight.
When you do something that has expertise behind it and your insight turns out to be wrong (or the execution of it) then I think you can walk away from that stronger no matter the result. Then when you make your next insight and risk something you will have a higher chance of winning that bet.
Rodlie says
Well, let me just make a tiny correction, Noel…from my understanding North Point Ministries actually has close to 1.7 billion…..hehe. Just kidding, of course. Yeah, we need to be more willing to take strategic risks. And like you said, if you’ve hired good people, the risks should be strategic rather than just plain foolish.
dannyjbixby says
Great article.
I think that we become paralyzed by our fears of failure because we may realize what is at stake. It could be my opinion, but to me there is a lot more ‘on the table’ for a church than there is for even the largest business in the world.
But we’re not ultimately responsible for people’s salvations either. God is. We’re just to love & be faithful to God and one another. God will take care of the rest.
Also, this “We’ve never done it that way before (the seven last words of a dying church)” was awesome.
And sad.
Rodlie says
Wow…yeah….sooo much more on the table, and yet we’re so hesitant. Sad indeed. I’m preaching to myself here. Thanks, Danny.
travisfish says
Great Point man! Churches really need to hear this and take a step of faith.
Steven Rossi says
While I do think that we shouldn’t quite write off Google Voice as a failure, as it’s got a ton of dedicated users, obviously that’s not the point of this post, and I’m cool with that. A commenter above me made a good point about the amount of capital that these organizations have and thus the degree to which some failure is fairly painless to them. Obviously, without that capital, other organizations would take much more of a hit due to failure. I agree, but I’m wondering if there isn’t some sort of calculated risk involved…like your organization decides how much it’s willing to risk with the good chance that it may all be lost. I guess if the cost isn’t too high and the payout could be very high, it’s worth it. And, if failure comes, keep on keepin’ on, I guess.
brett barner says
Great article, Rodlie. I’ve always been amazed at how many times Google fails, yet still remains competitive. They definitely have Aaliyah “Try Again” attitude.
Another good comparative is Microsoft who has become this slow giant who is too nervous to innovate. I see a strong relation between the church and Microsoft there. We are afraid of failure. We’ve had our share of Vistas and Zunes in the church and that makes us anxious.
Great thoughts, Rodlie!
brett barner says
Great article, Rodlie. You kind of forget the amount of failures Google has had. They still are competitive and have an Aaliyah “Try Again” type attitude towards failure.
I see a strong relation to Microsoft who has become such a slow nervous giant who has lost the nerve to innovate. I see that with the church. We’ve had our share of Vistas and Zunes in the church that we are afraid to take chances.
Great thoughts, Rodlie!
Brett Barner says
Sorry, I thought the first comment didn’t take. Please feel free to delete or disreguard the above comment. My bad.
Mason Stanley says
Technology is organic. By that I mean it is ever changing, ever growing. When I was in middle school we bought a NEC computer from Best Buy which had something like 5 GB’s of space on it (i can’t remember the exact ammount, all I knew is I could play Duke Nukem on it). They young sales guy confidently told my parents that we could never fill this hard drive; I currently have over 5 GB’s of podcast on my ipod!
The point is, google and apple are trying to set the market trends, they are trying to predict where the market is headed, what is on the rise, and what is on the decline. While Apple is leading the way in technology, Google takes products, and tries to create better products. I often times get upset with Google for not promoting their products enough, but the reason I believe (more like assume) they don’t, is because they are still trying to get a feel for the want and the desire of the market.
When programers create new software for the market, they use a system known as Iterative and incremental development. Meaning, they test a little bit of their product at a time, learn its issues and needs before launching it on a much larger scale, thus decreasing the oppertunity for final product failure (think soft launches for church plants) Churches should be willing to fail, but they should also take these lessons from Apple and Google. Attempt to picture where your surrounding culture is headed and constantly review and improve your “product.” Google aspires to be more than just a search engine, this is why google is a verb and yahoo is a dusty book mark.
Nick Shoemaker says
Great reminder to have a fail forward mentality- it’s ok to fail, as long as you genuinely learn something from it. Thanks Rodlie!
Scott Magdalein says
“One” thing? 😉
Churches definitely need to learn how to fail like a champ.
Rodlie says
Ok, I suppose there could be more than one thing. Maybe 😉
Stephen Bateman says
I think it’s too early to verdict on GVoice or Wave. Mostly because the early adopters (in the case of Wave) MUST have others to make it work. So we get a case of slow growth because it takes a long time for people to catch on.
Once we hit critical mass, I think both of those services (or their grandchildren) will be seen as tremendous successes, if not immediately.
In terms of success, think Emily Dickinson, not the Eragon guy.
Rodlie says
Very true. I think it’s a wait and see game for now…