I’m a naturally curious person and subsequently I’m always toying with some idea or concept I’ve just encountered. I’ve even gone as far as to design and then suggest implementing a system for office bathrooms that allowed people to see individual stall availability through an intranet site. Imagine! I could have eliminated that infamous walk-to-the-restroom-only-to-discover-it’s-ocupado. And even though HR didn’t fully embrace my vision for some privacy-schmivacy reason, deep down I’m convinced they knew it was a real winner.
As you can see, I love to explore. Whether at work or home, I pursue these kinds of rabbit trails incessantly. But I’m definitely not unique. People like me, those in the technology space, often are creative individuals! Unfortunately most technology based roles are not very creative, like the lyrics of Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton aptly point out, “This job fulfilling in creative way, such a load of crap!”
So what can leaders of technology teams do to help their people scratch that creative itch? Glad you asked! Simply put, build in time for your team to play. I don’t mean encouraging them to play ping pong or video games or catchup on their Netflix. While those activities are fine, they don’t fill the creative void any more than normal work. I’ll use a very simple case study to help make my point. Let’s take a brief look at a company you’ve probably heard of that uses this approach.
Let’s Prove the Point with a Case Study
Ever heard of this startup turned massive success named Google?
In an interview with Reid Hoffman on his Masters of Scale podcast, Google’s former CEO, Eric Schmidt remarked that Google allows their employees to focus 20% of their work week on anything the employee chooses. This means roughly one day each week can be devoted to a side project dreamt up by the employee.
[Eric] granted employees the freedom not only to choose their projects, but openly defy their managers along the way. Google famously instituted a rule that any employee could devote 20% percent of their work-week to any project they’d like. 20% percent time was, in some ways, a logical extension of Google’s graduate school culture. Managers, like research advisors, can set timetables and budgets for experimentation. But the staff, like the “students,” pick the research agenda.
Even though Google entered into this new work-week agreement with the expectation that the 20% would be filled with projects destined for the trash bin, they’ve also had some remarkably successful projects come from it as well — Gmail, AdSense, Google Maps, and Google News are a few well know services to birth from an employee’s efforts during their 20% of the work week.
Why did Eric Schmidt come up with this 20% rule in the first place? It was his solution to the pervasive, ongoing problem in tech of creatives working in non-creative ways. According to Eric, the normal method of top leadership deciding what’s important and which projects get attention, kills innovation. It also stifles the employees’ motivation to work. The solution of letting employees have dedicated time to actually be creative rejuvenates their innovation. It also rekindles their motivation to work on the other 80% of projects they may not love.
Don’t miss this.
This need for creativity is more common than we think and is often found lurking in unexpected places, just wanting to be released. I imagine many people are surprised that software developers typically fall into the creative camp. But, they do. Tech is actually a draw for creative people. If you stop to consider how someone’s love of tech begins, there’s usually a creative aspect to it. But when you get a real job as a techie, the creative aspect is often quickly lost due to typical corporate culture.
What can you do to change this?
You might be saying: Hey Rod! This all sounds great, but my company is never going to approve letting my team spend 20% of their time working on some throwaway project.
I hear you! So, try this. Do it anyway! I don’t mean exactly flaunt authority. But build in some extra time as you commit to your team’s next sprint or PI … or however you plan over at your place. It may not be 20% worth, but just add a little buffer. Then purposely have ad hoc conversations with members of your team where you bring up the idea of working on something that would be fun. Just let it grow organically from those conversations and the small about of extra time you’ve created in your team’s schedule.
Of course, if you have the swagger to call the shots or persuade the leaders that do, then by all means make it an official practice. 10%, 20%, really whatever works for you. Finally, if you own a company or small business of techie creatives, you are only hurting yourself by not embracing this practice.
Let’s all go forth and be creative — at least part of the time!
