I have a simple answer for you - researchers measure impact differently. If they measured it primarily by shipping products, they would work as engineers, not research scientists. As a researcher you realize impact by researching and publishing (internally or externally) and are ok with the idea that it's up to others to pick it up and turn into cool products.
Hopefully they work at the same company, but if they don't - it's not your problem to solve, but VPs and above.
But yes, it can be frustrating if you're junior and take your work personally and attribute its success to its (and even worse, your own) value. After a few years of career, you learn to look at it from a distance.
Google publishes amazing stuff, people are paid great salaries, they have a ton of fun doing it, work life balance is way better than at startups - what's not to like?
This quote says nothing about product, but about continuing research.
Most researchers don't care about products. Many don't even care about any practicality (just the scientific pursuit).
How do I know? Well, I happen to work as Research Scientist. I worked at Google 5y. :) For the majority of my colleagues, "having to" support their work after it was published was a nuisance and they wanted to work on new cool stuff instead.
Hopefully they work at the same company, but if they don't - it's not your problem to solve, but VPs and above.
But yes, it can be frustrating if you're junior and take your work personally and attribute its success to its (and even worse, your own) value. After a few years of career, you learn to look at it from a distance.
Google publishes amazing stuff, people are paid great salaries, they have a ton of fun doing it, work life balance is way better than at startups - what's not to like?