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LAURA MAE MARTIN: I'm Laura Mae Martin,
Google's executive productivity advisor,
and I'm here with Andrew Nartker from Project Starline.
We're so excited to have you today.
So why don't you start by telling me
about your very first job.
ANDREW NARTKER: I grew up in the Midwest,
in Michigan, where there's a lot of grass to cut in the summer.
So I started off as a teenager with my local job
cutting my neighbor's lawns, but then eventually found
that I could work in a computer repair store down the road
and helped our small town fix computers for all my neighbors
and small businesses.
That's where I really fell in love with what computers could
do and found out how they work.
LAURA MAE MARTIN: And now you explore and research technology
every day.
So what's something that even you
didn't account for in the shift to hybrid work?
ANDREW NARTKER: When hybrid work first started,
I found myself working from home for the first time.
And so, for me, it was a little bit of excitement,
but also, over time, very isolating.
Even though I was communicating with my team every day
on video conferences and in email,
I didn't feel like I was really kind of connecting in the way
that I used to.
So I miss that human connection and maybe just the small talk
or the hallway conversations that were really hard to have.
LAURA MAE MARTIN: And now you manage something called
Project Starline at Google.
So can you give us a high level overview of that
and how you hope it will participate
in the future of work?
ANDREW NARTKER: We've been working
on Starline for around five years
as a breakthrough in communication technology.
Can we make it feel like you're in person no matter where
you are in the world with some of the digital technology we
have today?
And we feel like we're chipping away at that problem
and getting closer.
So we've got a series of technologies
that create magic windows, where you look across the window
and you see through it to the other side,
and there's your friend, your family, or somebody
that can help out, like a doctor or others.
And to do this, we have technology
that both shows things in a high resolution light field,
almost like a 3D display technology,
and then also a 3D capture technology
to create a 3D video stream that we're able to transmit.
LAURA MAE MARTIN: How do you feel
augmented reality is contributing overall
to the future of work?
ANDREW NARTKER: With technology like augmented reality
and Project Starline, which we think is very related,
both of these technologies allow us
to feel more connected without the computer getting
in the way.
So for example, with Starline, you
can feel like you're present with somebody
and form that relationship or have that connection that might
be missing through tools today.
And augmented reality will have the same thing.
It'll get out of the way and let you understand the world
or have a more useful interaction with things
around you by having the computers fade
into the background.
We think those will be powerful technologies
over the next coming decade.
LAURA MAE MARTIN: What are some of the ways that organizations
can support the use of emerging technologies that
can help their employees be more impactful?
ANDREW NARTKER: Having a culture that lets you experiment,
learn, and test new things is really valuable nowadays.
On our team, we're really encouraged to try new things
out, new technologies.
We've done things like take our headphones
and walk around the block and have walking meetings
without really seeing each other, but really
kind of feeling like we're together walking
around the neighborhood, or even trying
things like whiteboarding and VR headsets.
Incorporating that into our routines
and having a good sense of what it's good and not good for
has been really valuable.
LAURA MAE MARTIN: So how have you
found success uniting the distributed teams at Google?
ANDREW NARTKER: With Project Starline,
our team is distributed all throughout Google offices
across the United States.
So we've really had to stay connected
with excellent communication, but then also gatherings
that are really purpose driven.
And we found ways every week and every month to set a purpose
and have people join their local offices and see
each other in person, either for a lab
review or a workshop, a summit, or maybe just a coffee.
We found those very purposeful in-person gatherings
to be powerful and a way to stay connected as a team.
LAURA MAE MARTIN: And as organizations
are reimagining the future of work,
what's one practice that you recommend
that they'd implement?
ANDREW NARTKER: I think it really starts with culture.
So I'd recommend for a lot of businesses
to look at setting forth a culture
where everyone can be successful no matter their location.
And I think once you have that, you'll
have the tools and technologies follow
that really strong culture.
LAURA MAE MARTIN: Thank you so much, Andrew.
I really love the idea of connection first and computer
second.
And it sounds like you're doing amazing things
with Project Starline.
ANDREW NARTKER: Thanks for having me, Laura.
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