20 percent rule
Might be near the end on this one, but it's still good.
I have a habit to share today. I've been using it as a metaphor lately for how I spend my time, and in fact, time might be running out to talk about it.
It has to do with something Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote 20 years ago, and that was included in filing with the SEC just before their company's IPO, about how they encouraged employees to spend their time:
We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20% of their time working
on what they think will most benefit Google. This empowers them to be more creative and innovative.
Many of our significant advances have happened in this manner. For example, AdSense for content and Google News were both prototyped in “20% time.”
It sounds innovative, doesn't it? And back in its day, Google was in fact quite innovative. So, it's probably not surprising that the whole idea of "20% time" took on a life of its own.
In fact, I think it became as much a part of the legend of early-2000s Google as other things like the idea of having free snacks and free gourmet kitchens everywhere, or that new employees had to wear propeller beanies for their first week on the job (and were known as "Nooglers"), or that their slogan once upon a time was (get this): "Don't be evil."
Sure, some of these survive, but we all know that Google itself, now actually Alphabet with a subsidiary called Google, ain't what it used to be, at least in American culture. And things change.
Heck, I wrote about 20% time maybe four years ago for Inc.com, and when I asked whether "20% time" still existed at the mature, alleged monopolistic version of Google we know today, I got a bit of a mixed answer.
On the one hand, they said: Yes, absolutely; it's "a long-standing Google initiative ... and still an active program."
On the other hand, when I asked for an example of a Google innovation that had actually come out of 20% time, the most recent ones they could come up with were Google Cardboard and Wear OS (originally known as Android Wear), which were both introduced in 2014.
Also, even back then a lot of people said that Google 20% time should actually be known as "120% time," on the grounds that it really functioned as an "in addition to" schedule, as opposed to an "instead of other stuff" idea.
Actually, I enjoyed an anachronistic detail in the story I wrote then since it was so clearly "of the pandemic." See if you can spot it:
You might be doing some of this already, even if you don't call it "20-percent time."
Think of the things that you spend time on that broaden your horizons and make you aware of opportunities, or help you develop new skills, but that don't relate to an immediate professional benefit.
As a simple example: outside reading. Or else, experimenting with new systems or processes. Attending conferences (virtual for now, I'm sure), networking, or simply taking meetings.
It's even better if you can point to a specific project you're working on that you're not sure will work out or pay off financially but that you can learn something from regardless.
Anyway, I suppose time is really running out to write effusive articles about Google.
Even if people weren't pining for the days before the AI and spam takeover of its search engine, the company is just so over-the-top familiar now that it would probably break the laws of physics if people hadn't developed at least mild contempt for it.
Or else, maybe the U.S. government will wind up breaking it up, and writing about its culture will seem like it’s one step removed from writing about the innovative policies they used to have a Standard Oil or the Bell System.
That said, when I go down a rabbit hole for a day or two, trying to figure out how to get my burgeoning "personal history at scale" idea off the ground (amazing comments yesterday in our “love of your life” edition by the way … and don’t miss the earliest childhood memory edition from two weeks ago), only to realize that I still have to do all the day-to-day stuff afterward that keeps my current projects going, and the mortgage getting paid, it's the example I keep coming back to.
It's only 20%, right? But I’m finding that it's 100% worth it.
7 other things …
Hurricane Milton was set to make landfall in Florida either late last night or early this morning. Words fail to describe how different and intense this storm sounds like it's going to be. I'm sure there will be more recent news by the time you read this, so I'm going to link to Accuweather's live storm updates page. (Accuweather)
How’s this for a timely link? The Justice Department’s landmark proposal to dismantle Google’s search monopoly offers the first clear window into how Washington’s accelerating antitrust effort could clip the wings of Big Tech giants. Unlike European regulators targeting the same firms, President Joe Biden’s enforcers are swinging for the fences, proposing a radical restructuring of how Google works rather than chipping away at the company with fines. (Politico)
Who invented Bitcoin? Satoshi Nakamoto, sorta, but if you're not into crypto you might not realize that nobody knows who or what that actually is. However, HBO has a documentary coming out now whose creator says he's cracked the code and identified the actual person. This would be a big deal -- if it were true, which, who knows? (Quartz)
A Florida candidate for state legislature says his father was nearly tricked into handing over $35,000 as a result of an AI-enabled telephone scam. Someone apparently used a sample of Jay Shooster's voice from a campaign ad to create an AI clone, and then called his father saying he needed bail money immediately after being arrested for DWI. His dad's suspicions were raised when he was told the bail would have to be paid in untraceable cryptocoin. (NY Post)
Florida is threatening to criminally prosecute television stations if they do not stop running a political advertisement featuring a brain cancer patient who supports a November ballot measure that would broaden access to abortion in Florida. But nearly a week after the state warned TV stations to pull the ad, the commercial is still running. (Miami Herald)
A Turkish Airlines jetliner headed from Seattle to Istanbul made an emergency landing in New York on Wednesday after the captain died on board, an airline official said. Medical intervention failed to revive the 59-year-old captain, and the co-pilot decided to make an emergency landing, but the captain died before the plane landed. (CNN)
The U.S. Army reached its recruiting goal for the 2024 fiscal year after dropping its requirement by 10,000 people compared to last year and launching a new prep course that graduated thousands. The number of people recruited was largely flat around 55,000 in 2024 and 2023, Army numbers show. About 11,000 people entered the delayed entry program, well above last year's number of about 4,600. (Gazette)
Thanks for reading. Photo credit: Photo by Ryan Holloway on Unsplash. Don’t forget about sharing your “love of my life” stories in the comments!
If memory serves and stories told are factual, I believe 3M was one of the original architects of this spend a portion of your time (might have been "only" 15% for them though) on your own thing mantra. The oft told story (hopefully beyond urban myth) is that the introduction of their sticky notes came from this with two different people/groups working this way on things that ended up being combined to release the ultimate final product. Cheers to all companies who allow those who do to engineer that which can be and ends up being done.
Still percolating on yesterday’s Love of Your Life Substack as I sit here looking at Milam’s picture. He’s missed every day.