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

[Serissa via TUHS]

I've been in a couple of systems research groups, Xerox PARC and Digital Systems Research Center, and many or most projects are collaborations among groups of people. Maybe there aren't product managers and release schedules, but you do need to pull your weight and (speaking for myself) it is pretty easy to ignore your own ideas in favor of the group effort.

In those labs anyway, there was no formal 20% but it would have prodded the more junior folks like me to work on some of their own ideas.

-Larry

> On Nov 19, 2025, at 7:00 PM, Bakul Shah via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> On Nov 19, 2025, at 7:59 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.
> 
> Does this idea of 20% time to work on whatever project you want even
> make sense for a research lab?