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Many of you have probably heard of Google’s Innovation Time Off, or their 20% time.  For those of you who haven’t, Google allows their software guys to take 20% of their time, the equivalent of one day a week, and put it towards any sort of pet projects they want to.

Now, I’m sure there are some restrictions on this.  For starters, it probably has to be something that the company could theoretically benefit from in the future, and in fact, probably whatever the developer does would belong to Google.  Also, probably, the projects need to be approved before they can be worked on.

I should probably also mention that Google is not the only company out there doing this, just the most well-known.

There are a number of useful things that come from a company that allows this that are worth considering:

• Developers are able to spend the time needed to learn new programming languages, or other skills that will feed back into their normal work.
• Pet projects are far more likely to be finished on time (if there’s a such thing as deadlines for these projects) and be high quality, because it is something the creator is excited about.
• While many of these projects won’t amount to anything, there is a lot of potential for them to turn into huge money-making ventures for the company.
• It gives the developers a break from the monotonous daily routine.

So if you are in a position of power in your company, you might want to consider if Innovation Time Off could be beneficial for your company.  Obviously, it isn’t going to be a good idea for everyone, but it is worth considering.

If you aren’t in a position of power, you have other things to consider.  First, as you’re looking for jobs, you might want to ask them if they do anything like this.  Second, the principle holds true for you as a person, instead of just as a part of a company.  Take a small percent of your off-work time to work on your own projects.  It doesn’t have to be much.  We all get busy, I know.  But you never know what sort of personal project will give you the skills you need to land your dream job, or give you something that you can make your own startup with!  And it is nice to get some of the ideas rolling around in your head running on a computer.

Have any ideas on how to make Innovation Time Off work for you, or any suggestions for other companies who may want to try it?  Please leave a comment!

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