Softpedia >News >Web / Internet Life >Google News
Softpedia Homepage   

Google's Famous "20% Time" Perk Is Effectively Dead Under Larry Page

The program led to many of Google's best known products such as AdSense and Gmail

Aug 17, 2013 15:11 GMT  ·  By
The program isn't gone, it's just that engineers now have to do their full job and add the 20 percent time on top
   The program isn't gone, it's just that engineers now have to do their full job and add the 20 percent time on top

It really shouldn't be any surprise to anyone, but Google's famous "20 percent time" perk is effectively dead. Under the program, any Googler was free take 20 percent of his or her time, i.e. one day a week, to work on their own projects within the company.

Over the years, this program has led to the creation of AdSense, Gmail, Google Talk and countless other products and features.

But we haven't heard much of the program since Larry Page took over as CEO more than two years ago.

The same Larry Page who wrote the now famous "more wood behind fewer arrows" post in which he explained that Google will start focusing on the big projects, the big products, and get rid of anything inconsequential to the company.

With this new focus, it was hard to see how Googlers could continue to work on their own side projects, knowing that the company won't back them even if they prove useful unless they attain the huge scale Google is working at these days.

And, indeed, a report from Quartz citing several former Google employees, makes it clear that the program, while not officially dead, is effectively gone.

Engineers, at least in some cases, are required to get approval to take their 20 percent time. At the same time, the managers that are supposed to allow this are required to have everyone in their team working at 100 percent, according to Google's rigorous performance testing program.

Since the original report came out, many at Google criticized it, anonymously, and said that 20 percent time is alive and well. Others though provided a more detailed picture.

They say that engineers don't technically need permission to use their 20 percent time and many still use this perk. However, this leaves less time for their actual jobs, meaning that they fall behind their peers in "productivity," a metric on which they are assessed.

So, in order for them to do their jobs, 20 percent time has become 120 percent time, i.e. they still have to do their job, but they can use Google's tools and resources for other projects outside the regular hours.