[TUHS] 20% time -- did it originate at the Labs?

[Clem Cole via TUHS]

I have always been associated with "1 day a week to work on a project of
your choice" with HP and Tektronix.  It was encouraged that what you worked
on during that time might have future benefits (that's how the Magnolia
Workstation — later commercialized as the 4404 — was started).  But a key
point to remember was that, in both cases, management tended to disregard
it in the project schedule — *i.e.*, things were staffed assuming 100%
output (sometimes more).  FWIW: I don't think I have ever associated with
BL. @Ron: Where have you seen references to that?

BTW: Besides the "1 day a week" idea, something else I always think of that
I greatly miss in every company I've worked at after my Tektronix
experience as a young engineer is the idea of an "open stock room."  I'm
not sure of HP policies at the time, but it was Tek's.  The idea was if you
were working a private project (called a G-job) on your own time, you could
make anything you wanted at your desk or bench, as long as you paid for the
parts (credit was given as needed), you just took what you needed and
signed the sheets of what you grabbed so the stock room folks would know
when to reorder.  The other was that as long as your manager knew, you
could bring any lab instrument home to use there.

On Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 11:00 AM ron minnich via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:

> I read an article recently that claimed HP invented 20% time 8 decades ago.
>
> I had always associated 20% time with Bell Labs. Can someone clear me up?
> Thanks.
>