Innovation Time Off on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Side project time is a type of
employee benefit
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
constituting a guarantee from employers that their employees may work on their personal projects during some part (usually a percentage) of their time at work.
Side project time is limited by two stipulations: what the employee works on is the
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
of their employer, and if requested, an explanation must be able to be given as to how the project benefits the company in some way, even tangentially.
Technology company
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
is credited for popularizing the 20% concept.
It led to the development of products such as
Gmail
Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...
and
AdSense. Though the program's continuity has been questioned
Google states it remains an active program.
Other major companies that have at one time or another offered some or all of their employees the benefit include the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
(10%),
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
(a few contiguous weeks yearly),
and
Atlassian
Atlassian Corporation () is an Australian software company that develops products for software developers, project managers and other software development teams. The company is domiciled in Delaware, with global headquarters in Sydney, Australi ...
(20%).
Some, such as
LinkedIn
LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
, have trialed more restrictive versions of such initiatives in which employees must first
pitch their project and have it approved by their manager to work on it during company time.
Side project time has been criticized by some academics, such as
Queens College
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
professor Abraham Walker, as "exploitative" due to how it grants employers the intellectual property rights over the personal business ideas of their employees that the employer would have never requested to be worked on otherwise.
History
3M and 15% time
The 15% project was an initiative established by corporation
3M. At the time of this program's implementation, the United States’ work force was composed of highly inflexible employment opportunities in rigid business structures.
After
WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
ended,
3M developed an ethos: Innovate or die, which provided enterprise for the company and inspired the launch of this program. This original project has widely successful outcomes, resulting in scientists developing and manufacturing products that remain utilized internationally, even decades later.
Google implementation
Since before its IPO in 2004 the founders of
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
have encouraged the 20% project system. Within Google, this initiative became known as the "20% Project."
Employees were encouraged to spend up to twenty-percent of their paid work time pursuing personal projects. The objective of the program was to inspire innovation in participating employees and ultimately increase company potential. Google's 20% Project was influenced by a comparable program, launched in 1948, by manufacturing multinational
3M which guaranteed employees "15% time"—to dedicate up to 15 percent of their paid hours to a personal interest;
it was during his side project time that
Arthur Fry
Arthur Fry (born 19 August 1932) is an American inventor and scientist. He is credited as the co-creator of the Post-it Note, an item of office stationery manufactured by 3M. As of 2006, Post-it products are sold in more than 100 countries.
L ...
invented the
Post-It Note
A Post-it Note (or sticky note) is a small piece of paper with a re-adherable strip of glue on its back, made for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. A low-tack pressure-sensitive adhesive allows the notes to be easily ...
.
For Google's part,
Gmail
Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...
and
AdSense
Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. These advert ...
both arose out of side projects.
As recognition of the clear benefits of retaining such a scheme grew, schools have replicated this system for their students in the classroom environment. The production of such creatively stimulated, ungraded work allows for peers to experiment with ideas without fear of assessment and increases their involvement in their general studies. Further, other small businesses are now using this system in their day-to-day functions, including software company
Atlassian
Atlassian Corporation () is an Australian software company that develops products for software developers, project managers and other software development teams. The company is domiciled in Delaware, with global headquarters in Sydney, Australi ...
, as a safeguard to counter damp
growth rates and a general lack of innovation.
In 2013, Google discontinued 20 percent time.
The 20% Project is responsible for the development of many Google services. Founders
Sergey Brin
Sergey Mikhailovich Brin (russian: link=no, Сергей Михайлович Брин; born August 21, 1973) is an American business magnate, computer scientist, and internet entrepreneur, who co-founded Google with Larry Page. Brin was the ...
and
Larry Page
Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American business magnate, computer scientist and internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin.
Page was the chief executive officer of Google from 1997 unt ...
advised that workers “spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google”.
Google's email service ‘Gmail’ was created by the developer
Paul Buchheit
Paul T. Buchheit is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur who created Gmail. He developed the original prototype of Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail. He also suggested Google's former company motto ''Don't be evil'' in a 2000 ...
on his 20% time. In his project "Caribou", Buchheit used his knowledge from university software experience to create the service. The freedom to use his time in such a way allowed him to ultimately develop a fundamental Google service. Buchheit's colleague,
Susan Wojcicki
Susan Diane Wojcicki ( ; born July 5, 1968) is a Polish-American business executive who is the CEO of YouTube. Her net worth was estimated at $765 million in 2022.
Wojcicki has worked in the technology industry for over 20 years. She became invol ...
, utilised her time to create their product
AdSense
Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. These advert ...
. Finally, developer
Krishna Bharat
Krishna Bharat (born 7 January 1970) is an Indian research scientist at Google Inc. He was formerly a founding adviser for Grokstyle Inc. a visual search company and Laserlike Inc., an interest search engine startup based on Machine learning, M ...
created
Google News
Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web.
Google rel ...
as an individual pursuit and hobby.
Other companies
Australian enterprise company
Atlassian
Atlassian Corporation () is an Australian software company that develops products for software developers, project managers and other software development teams. The company is domiciled in Delaware, with global headquarters in Sydney, Australi ...
has been using the 20% project since 2008. Co-founder
Mike Cannon-Brookes
Michael Cannon-Brookes (born 17 November 1979) is an Australian billionaire, co-founder, and co-CEO of the software company Atlassian. Cannon-Brookes often carries the epithet of ''accidental billionaire'' after he and his business partner Sco ...
stated that “innovation slows as the company grows”.
And as such the scheme was introduced to re-inspire innovation. The induction of the system was a six-month trial, granting $1 million to engineers and allowing them to work on private projects based on personal interests.
Part of this 20% time is their annual "Ship It’"day, where employees are challenged with a task to create any product and then ship this item within 24 hours.
Workers created products which ranged from refined
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
to ‘
Jira’ software updates.
American
project management
Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. Th ...
software company TargetProcess adopted the 20% project for their small company. The company was composed of 110 members when the initiative was introduced. Company founder Michael Dubakov identified a lack of innovation from his employees, with their daily routines occupied with monotonous work. Dubakov was inspired by the output derived from 20% projects in
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
and
3M but was unsure about the limit on employee involvement. Despite driving the project at
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
, only certain employees were granted this time – meaning most workers could not use this opportunity for innovation. Dubakov decided to allow all employees to pursue individual projects, to reduce boredom and inspire innovation. Initially the company introduced “Orange Fridays” in 2013, an allocated 4 hours of each Friday afternoon to attend workshops, learn about and develop new technology. From this, the company saw a rise in investment opportunities and company growth.
The company developed a culture to innovate, with no pressure applied to employees moving from their regular schedule to innovate and learn.
In 2016, TargetProcess introduced the Open Allocation Experiment. This initiative was an extension of “Orange Fridays” and was applied to a majority of employees. The goal was to provide a more comprehensible user experience and amend issues with the TargetProcess product. Involved members were granted the opportunity to manage their schedule and individually pursue new
product design
Product design as a verb is to create a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is a major aspect of n ...
. This experiment highlighted positive growth in the company, observed from a 10-month review.
Dubakov implemented deadlines, ensuring each individual met their personal goals. As a result, members reported to have felt an increase in personal motivation. The main company detriment that arose from this experiment was decreased company unity. With each employee pursuing individual projects a lack of management led to the company embodying the different visions from all employees, affecting company alignment. This experiment was ceased after the founder believed the company was unprepared for this shift in work dynamic. TargetProcess would focus on backlog creation, with training programs for
product development
In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) covers the complete process of bringing a new product to market, renewing an existing product or introducing a product in a new market. A central aspect of NPD is product design, along wi ...
operating in conjunction.
Self-organisation
Self-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when suff ...
was a key concern for their 20% project as not all employees could manage their projects whilst reaching regular work deadlines. Another issue upheld in this experiment was the reward scheme, granted when an individual initiated a new product or scheme. This undermined the work of those employees not involved in the experiment and led to an unbalance in
motivation
Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...
.
Notable projects
Gmail
From the 20% Project,
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
produced forefront services that drive the company today. One outcome of this project was Gmail, Google's email service. Developer
Paul Buchheit
Paul T. Buchheit is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur who created Gmail. He developed the original prototype of Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail. He also suggested Google's former company motto ''Don't be evil'' in a 2000 ...
created this service under the project title ‘Caribou’. This service was developed without the awareness of other employees and was publicised several years later. By 2006, this service was available on
computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
s and
mobile device
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...
s. After 8 years of activity, Gmail had 425 million users. In May 2014, Gmail set the record as the first
Android application to reach one billion installations on the
Google Play store
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sys ...
.
AdSense
The 20% Project aided in the development of AdSense, a program where publishers can produce media advertisements for a targeted audience. This service allows website publishers to generate revenue on a per-click basis. This service was publicly released on June 18, 2003. This service was envisioned by Gmail's founder Paul Buchheit, who wanted appropriate ads to run throughout the Gmail service, but the project was pursued by Susan Wojcicki, who curated a team of developers who created the platform in their dedicated 20% time. After two years of its inception, the service was generating 15 percent of the company's revenue. The service can now offer ads in the form of simple text, flash video or rich media.
Google News
The news aggregator Google News is another result of the 20% Project. This service was publicized in January 2006, though the beta was introduced in September 2002. The creator of this service was
Krishna Bharat
Krishna Bharat (born 7 January 1970) is an Indian research scientist at Google Inc. He was formerly a founding adviser for Grokstyle Inc. a visual search company and Laserlike Inc., an interest search engine startup based on Machine learning, M ...
, who developed this software in his dedicated project time. The service sources from 20,000 different publishers, providing articles in 28 languages. Now, the service has many new features, including
Google News Alerts, which emails “alerts” on chosen keyword topics.
Google Dremel
Dremel was conceived at Google in 2006 as a “20 percent” project by Andrey Gubarev.
Atlassian
In 2008, Atlassian announced its "20% Time Experiment", a six-month trial that was later extended to a full year.
After six months of the project initiating, the company saw major improvements to
Jira, Bamboo and
Confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
. The Bamboo team introduced Stash 1.0 in May throughout the dedicated project time.
Throughout two designated ‘Innovation Week’ workshops, the company shipped 12 features. At the end of the experiment, surveyed developers expressed that the biggest problem they faced was scheduling time for 20% work on top of the pressure to deliver new features and fix bugs. As a result, based on the number of developers who actually participated, the time allocated was closer to "1.1% Time."
A related initiative is Atlassian's quarterly 24-hour "ShipIt"
hackathon
A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon or codefest; a portmanteau of hacking and marathon) is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 hours. Th ...
, which allows employees to pursue any project. In the past, employees have used this time to refine
Jira Service Desk and improve the
Jira software for loading screens.
TargetProcess
TargetProcess implemented 20% Project initiatives such as the Open Allocation Experiment and Orange Fridays to inspire innovation from employees. Since the implementation of the project, investment opportunities have risen.
The company grew over 10% between 2008 and 2016 during the project's operation. Founder Michael Dubakov observed increased enthusiasm from employees.
Benefits and detriments
The 20% Project is designed to let employees experiment without the pressure of company decline or the threat of unemployment. For companies that thrive from the conception of services and products, innovative and entrepreneurial thought is vital to success.
However, for an operating business,
productivity
Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...
can be negatively affected by the 20% Project. The loss of time previously spent on major company-aligned projects can negatively affect a company's overall performance.
The allocation of this project time is not consistent. Former
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
employee and
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...
CEO
Marissa Mayer
Marissa Ann Mayer (; born May 30, 1975) is an American businesswoman and investor. She is an information technology executive, and co-founder of Sunshine Contacts. Mayer formerly served as the president and chief executive officer of Yahoo!, a p ...
once stated “I’ve got to tell you the dirty little secret of Google's 20% time. It's really 120% time.”
Chris Mims mentioned that the 20% Project was “as good as dead”.
This is a concern as it suggests that this project is destructive over long-term periods. In Google executive
Laszlo Bock
Laszlo Bock is a Romanian-born American businessman, who is co-founder and CEO of Humu (software), Humu. He was formerly the Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google, Inc.
Early life and career
He was born in 1972 in Romania to et ...
's book, ''Work Rules!'', he mentions that the concept has “waxed and waned.” He states that workers in fact dedicate 10% of their time on personal projects, increasing focus time after the idea begins to “demonstrate impact.” He mentions that “the idea of 20 per cent time is more important than the reality of it.” Workers should always be driven towards individual innovation, yet it should operate “somewhat outside the lines of formal management.”
Atlassian
Atlassian Corporation () is an Australian software company that develops products for software developers, project managers and other software development teams. The company is domiciled in Delaware, with global headquarters in Sydney, Australi ...
Co-Founder Mike Cannon-Brookes implemented the 20% Project as a test to see if it produced any notable improvements or detriments to the company's output. They funded a six-month trial with one million Australian dollars. During this process, workers tackled inherent structural difficulties within the scheme. An employee mentioned that it was difficult to balance this 20% time “amongst all the pressures to deliver new features and bug fixes.”;
the program introduced more deadlines for their employees. As a result, the company found that this 20% Project in fact became 1.1% of their working time.
Another issue faced was the difficulty in the organisation and team-work involved in the projects. As employees would organise groups to create new software, they would struggle to work with employees who had other commitments and alternate time schedules.
The company blogs have included fewer references to the 20% Project over the last decade with references that this scheme loses effect in long-term practices.
The company's ‘Ship It’ day still highlights the prosperity of time dedicated to employee-based innovation.
Dubakov reported that the 20% Project proved beneficial for the company. The benefit of this separated time is that each member feels less pressure to complete tasks, being able to advance their skill set and review previous work. This time was not only used for new projects but to educate about content relating to the job.
This allocation of time allowed for individuals to complete single tasks, improving time delivery but negatively affecting
synergy
Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. The term ''synergy'' comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία ' from ', , meaning "working together".
History
In Christia ...
. The company reflected an emergent vision as a result of collective individual projects.
See also
*
List of Google products
The following is a list of products, services, and apps provided by Google. Active, soon-to-be discontinued, and discontinued products, services, tools, hardware, and other applications are broken out into designated sections.
Web-based product ...
*
Genius hour
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:20 Project
Google
Employment
Innovation
Workplace
Human resource management
3M
Project management
Workplace programs