Side project time has goal innovation
Google implementation
Since before its IPO in 2004 the founders of Google 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; For Google's part, Gmail and AdSense 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. Some Google employees state that the company has discontinued 20 percent time entirely, or had it reworked from its original concept. However, the company states that 20 percent time still exists.
The 20% Project is responsible for the development of many Google services. Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page 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 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, utilised her time to create their product AdSense. Finally, developer Krishna Bharat created Google News as an individual pursuit and hobby.Google News
The news aggregator Google News is another result of the 20% Project. Google News was released in 2006, though the beta was introduced in September 2002. The creator of this service was Krishna Bharat, 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.