Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team | Josh Woodward (Google Labs, Gemini, AI Studio)

Josh Woodward, head of Google Labs, Gemini, and AI Studio, argues that every company now needs to think and operate like a labs team. The underlying technology is changing so fast that organizations must get good at experimenting with the latest models and figuring out what is now possible before a competitor or startup does. Drawing on his experience running one of the longest-lasting labs teams in the world, Woodward shares specific lessons on where ideas come from, how to know when to kill one, and what skills are becoming more valuable.

The Frontier Team and the "Almost Possible" List

Woodward’s core thesis is that every company needs a dedicated set of people whose job is to live at the frontier. These are the people who have “eight $200 a month subscriptions on everything” and are plugged into the hive mind of model releases and new capabilities. A key tactic for this team is maintaining a list of what is “almost possible.” This list tracks technical thresholds and user behavior shifts that, once crossed, represent a phase shift in opportunity. When something on that list becomes possible, the team can quickly rally around it. Woodward notes that the best ideas rarely come from scheduled design sprints or brainstorming meetings. Instead, they emerge from small groups of obsessed people hacking on side projects, often over a weekend or a break. The leader’s job is to