Google X, the so-called “moonshot factory,” is a development company that invents and innovates new technologies that will change the world for the better. Google X's goal is to solve some of the world's most difficult and crucial problems. Two subsystems of Google X that help achieve this goal are the Rapid Evaluation Team and a policy of rewarding failures.
We had a school year theme that was something like "system, structure, and function." I have no idea why my English teacher wanted us to read about Google X; it wasn't related to anything else we did that year :/
Fun fact: it's called X now. So as of 2026, we have X (formerly known as Twitter) and X (formerly known as Google X). Lol. Lmao even.
Google X, the so-called “moonshot factory,” is a development company that invents and innovates new technologies that will change the world for the better. Google Xʼs goal is to solve some of the worldʼs most difficult and crucial problems. Two subsystems of Google X that help achieve this goal are the Rapid Evaluation Team and a policy of rewarding failures.
The Rapid Evaluation Team (Rapid Eval) is a subsystem of Google X, consisting of “a team of diverse experts” who evaluate “hundreds of proposals” in search of the most promising moonshot ideas. Their job is to “apply a kind of future-perfect analysis to every potential project” and promote only “those with the right balance of audacity and achievability.” In order to achieve their goal, Google X needed solutions. Rapid Eval contributes by picking out projects that have the potential to become the solutions to some of the worldʼs most difficult problems. Having to spend money and time on projects that end up failing is no doubt detrimental to a company. By promoting the best projects with the highest likelihood of success, Rapid Eval ensures that no money or resources would be wasted on projects destined to fail. And, with resources allocated to the most lucrative projects, Google X will have room to develop more audacious projects that can solve more problems.
Another subsystem of Google X is its policy of rewarding failure. Google X is structured in a way that is safe for projects to fail. Teams that “shut down projects that are likely to fail” will not be punished. Instead, they will be celebrated and rewarded with a “bonus” for cutting the losses. With this policy in place, the teams at Google X will not be hindered by the inevitable failures. This function of rewarding failures encourages them to take on high risks and high reward moonshot projects. Finding the best solutions to the worldʼs most difficult problems requires a lot of trial and error. When it is safe to fail, more audacious ideas can be tried out. Additionally, by encouraging teams to kill projects doomed to fail, the policy can help avoid wasting resources and manpower. And the fewer resources wasted, the more resources there are to find better ideas.