On: Google To Cut 200 Jobs

[sharpshoot]

Marketers create demand for a product. Sales people convert demand into paid customers. Hackers build the product that is sold.

[andreyf → sharpshoot]

And who decides what the product is? What about how much it costs? And who decides how to get the product from production to consumers?

Without the right marketing, you'll be building the wrong product, selling it at the wrong price, and with the wrong distribution. Yes, marketing is easier with your brand new shiny web apps, but it's still just as important.

[abstractbill → andreyf]

And who decides what the product is?

Not necessarily marketing people. Often engineers make those decisions.

[andreyf → abstractbill]

No. By definition, marketers make that decision.

[daveungerer → andreyf]

Exactly. When PG says "Make something people want", what he's really saying is: as an engineer, remember to wear your marketing hat when appropriate.