I've seen this tried in a few ways that didn't really work out and one that worked well: (edit - this is always highly dependent on the people and small differe

I've seen this tried in a few ways that didn't really work out and one that worked well: (edit - this is always highly dependent on the people and small differences, this is only my experience of 10/20% time that I've actually participated in and the issues that appeared at my workplace) # One day a week: Cons: people are off more on fridays, feel like they're missing out. Some things need more than one day, other priorities pop up a lot on fridays. Hard to force people to suddenly switch for one day. Pros: Simple, everyone gets time together. Easier to actually 'enforce' and not see it just disappear. # One week/similar per longer time period: Cons: Lots of time to stop everyone working, doesn't line up with all schedules, etc. Pros: Longer to do things, everyone available together. Same pros as one day per week. # Organise it yourself, completely freestyle Cons: People don't actually do it most of the time, seems like they're taking time away from their main project. Pros: Timing issues pretty much disappear, but things can always be put off. Easy for it to just be forgotten. ----- The way I've seen it work well had these properties: No fixed time or schedule, you booked off time to work on what you wanted. Your manager can't indefinitely say "no", but if you're trying to book off the day of a release when you're planning a big release then they'd ask you to wait a bit. To get it you have to say what it was you wanted to do, but this only needed to be a brief sentence on a wiki somewhere (could be "play around with X" or "try and make a Y"). You also needed to say if there was anything you required, and they'd help you sort this out. The time is considered like holiday. You don't pull in workers from holiday to help out, you can't pull them away from the time they'd requested for the project. You were encouraged to go and work in a different building/office if you wanted so you're not surrounded by people asking "quick questions". You were required to put any code in a particular place. You needed to briefly say how it went. You had to be reasonably willing to say what you did in the next all-hands. This was all fairly lightweight, booking time off wasn't a difficult thing and getting approval was just a quick chat about what you were planning. You could grab a few days or an afternoon, and they'd help out if you needed other equipment/etc. Overall I think what will work varies massively on your workers and current workplace, it's vital to try a few different things and tweak as you go.