Learning by Doing

Hal Varian, Google's chief economist says the company gets its competitive advantage from "learning by doing," reports Steve Lohr in a recent article in the New York Times.

Lohr describes Google as a "finely honed learning machine."

The article goes on to talk about network effects and the importance of co-opting not coercing. These are both, obviously, important in the networked world, but I think the easiest goal for any media business facing tough times is to take note of that first idea, and to do whatever it can to make itself into an equally finely honed learning machine.

Later in the article Varian explains how Google is "constantly evolving" to improve quality, and says fixed rules can get in the way of that sort of progress.

In news organizations, and probably in all organizations, those rules are not often written down. But they are understood and everyone knows them. They seem to carry as much weight as they would if they were carved in stone.

That "we do things this way" has to get out of the way if these businesses are going to change. That inherited knowledge is the antithesis of the learning machine.

Equally unproductive is the "my idea is a good idea and I'll keep doing it until it works" mindset which also seems prevalent in some organizations.

Perhaps one of the most attractive aspects of learning by doing, is that its very nature acknowledges ignorance. It banishes pride.

And the good news is that everyone has statistics. So the objective is simple. Get hold of the statistics. Try to understand them and make changes from what you learn.

Then do it again. Keep evolving. Learn by doing. How hard can that be?