At first glance, the news that Procter & Gamble and Google have been temporarily swapping staff sounds like the premise for a sitcom. P&G’s workers are stereotyped as robotic Proctoids. Googlers are supposed to be geeky-but-funky.
But as the Wall Street Journal account reveals, both companies share an underlying obsession with detail that runs deeper than any superficial differences in jargon or style. Any sitcom based on this odd couple would be running out of culture clash gags after the second episode.
The P&G/Google tie-up sounds clever and worthy of emulation by other companies. It offers a chance for P&G to learn from Google’s disruptive online innovation while giving Google a lesson in what it takes to thrive over the long term.
But while it is hardly material for TV comedy, Pooglers and Groctoids would be a great title for a children’s book.
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Lucy Kellaway, FT columnist and associate editor, offers her solution to your workplace problems in a column in the Financial Times. In the 
