Google’s 20% Solution as a Recession Antidote
Tweet
“For one day each week, Google’s engineering staffers get to work on projects they think are important for the business, not what management has prioritized for them.
Before you scoff at that as a tech-bubble luxury that only an overstaffed company can afford, look at some numbers. Google’s AdSense for Content was developed as an engineer’s “20% time” project. Last quarter, Google generated more than $1.6 billion in revenue from AdSense partner sites; that’s almost one-third of the company’s total revenue.”
From Computerworld. Found through Innovation Tools blog.
Since the start of this year, I have done something along these lines, working 5 days in the first 4 days, Monday through Thursday, then taking Friday off to do all the work that never seems to get done: paying bills, writing articles, sending invoices, rebuilding websites that support my business, prospecting. It has made a huge difference so far in my productivity and actually makes me eager to get work out of the way so I can enjoy my Friday working on different stuff than client work.
From a more corporate perspective, the Innovation Tools blog item has some interesting thoughts on how Google’s policy mirrors venture capital policies towards their projects. Both articles highlight that while Google’s policy is counter-intuitive, in fact it is the perfect policy to tide companies through a recession and prep them for the next growth phase.
- Latest Stories
- Popular Articles
- Popular Stories
- How to Pick an Online ECommerce Shopping Cart: 6 Carts Reviewed
- How to Code HTML Email Newsletters
- How To Create An Editorial Process To Publish Web Content
- How to Protect Your Website Images
- How To Do Basic Search Engine Optimization for Web Pages
- How To Easily Edit DNS Zone Files To Configure Email Servers
- How To Evaluate and Hire Programmers, Without Being A Programmer
- Browse all articles
- How To Create An Editorial Calendar to Publish Blogs, Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter, and Email Newsletters
- WorkingPoint Easily Manages Your Business Accounting
- Email Newsletters Get More Social
- How to Add Background Images to Email Newsletters
- Contrast is King in Design
- New Search Site Aggregates Personal Data
- Quick and Dirty Remote User Usability Testing
- The Social Media Landscape in Charts
- Resources: CSS Frameworks, PSD to HTML, Text Editors
- How To Code HTML Email Newsletters (All New Version)
- How To Code HTML Email Newsletters (All New Version) - 309,960 views
- How To Easily Edit DNS Zone Files To Configure Email Servers - 31,315 views
- How To Create An Editorial Calendar to Publish Blogs, Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter, and Email Newsletters - 24,307 views
- How to Protect Your Website Images - 23,243 views
- How to Pick an Online ECommerce Shopping Cart: 6 Carts Reviewed - 20,410 views
- B2B Buyers Have Very High Social Media Participation - 16,784 views
- The Big, Bad List of Search Engine Optimization Questions to Ask - 16,721 views
- Who’s Your Coding Buddy? - 16,695 views
- How to Deal with Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6) - 16,693 views
- About tweetCC and Why Licensing Your Twitter Tweets Matter - 16,666 views
Great Online Communities to Explore
Community MX - Web Design with Adobe twist
IxDA - Interaction Design
Boagworld - Web Design
SitePoint - Web Design, Coding
The Content Wrangler - Content, Content, Content
@TypeTweets - Twitter for Type-o-philes
Webmasterworld - Web Design
Get the Email Newsletter: Keep Up To Date
Stories, links, and more emailed to you every few weeks!
Connect With Us Online
We provide low-cost, how-to internet marketing information for individuals, businesses, and groups, as well as the people who support them. Learn more