I worked at a different company that had implemented a similar policy (10% I think?), and generally the problem was the same. There was no process to formally a

I worked at a different company that had implemented a similar policy (10% I think?), and generally the problem was the same. There was no process to formally accept projects, and no formalized way of having managers ignore the productivity loss when evaluating people. I suspect the management liked the concept of having their smart engineers invent new products, but ultimately preferred buying companies. It somehow seemed less risky even though most of the acquisitions failed.