There is a theory going around that states: “Google is one of the most innovative companies on the planet because of the 20% time”. So what is the 20% time? In a nut shell this is a system that allows staff to go off and do what ever they want – more or less – for 20% of their paid work time. Great for a big company like google with billions in their pockets you might say……. or is it? Can a small company do the same?
Time to introduce the “BreezeBook”.
The BreezeBook is a neat idea for those that network a lot or meet lots of clients. Do either of these two activities and you soon end up with a massive deck of business cards. The some IMRE 20% time is being used to develop an online tool that will allow business cards to be stored and retrieved easily……
Rumour has it that this project might also be turned over to the community! It might even make it to opensource status – only time will tell.
Great idea as far as I am concerned.
Want to know more?
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/googles-20-percent-time-in-action.html
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050330-074522
http://journalistopia.com/2007/10/21/a-look-at-googles-20-percent-time/
http://ask.metafilter.com/62624/Pros-and-Cons-of-Googles-20-percent-time-concept