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Apple fires up its version of Google’s "20% time"
- andrew_wc_brown 14y agoDidn't apple use to have an R&D department and one of the first thing Steve Jobs did when he came back to Apple was he scrapped it?
- drifkin 14y agoWhether or not it was scrapped when he first came back, R&D doesn't seem like a new thing for Apple. For example, I remember coming across someone working on touch R&D for Apple: http://murderandcreate.com/ http://murderandcreate.com/ From the page: "In 2007 I started working in research and development at Apple on multitouch hardware. There I spent my time inventing and patenting new touch technologies. Now I lead the Human Interface Device Software Prototype group at Apple."
- huxley 14y agoYep, Apple had the Advanced Technologies Group. Jobs shut it down partly as a cost savings measure and partly to focus Apple on the NeXT frameworks as its long-term technology foundation.
- eshvk 14y agoI am confused: I believe they still have a research lab in Austin that does machine learning (among other things). I also know folks who have interned doing computational linguistics at Apple.
- genuine 14y agoI can't say I disagree with not having dedicated R&D. The notion of having an R&D department is stuck in the 1950's where the geeks and the worker bees didn't mix. Everyone should be able to and be encouraged to innovate.
- philwelch 14y agoThis sounds suspiciously like the pipeline of new ideas is running dry.
- Osmium 14y agoHow so? Sounds to me they're just doing something about their "retention of talent" problem, which is surely one of the biggest issues facing Apple today. Giving their developers a little freedom and flexibility is just what they need.
- olgeni 14y ago> Giving their developers a little freedom and flexibility is just what they need. Developers submitting stuff to the App Store could probably benefit from this too...
- brian_cloutier 14y agoYes but you have fewer opportunities to leave for another app store than apple employees have to leave for another company.
- philwelch 14y agoBut it only really makes much sense if Apple really thinks any of these two-week projects will turn into actual products.
- bane 14y agoI'd write it up this way: Tim Cook is a remarkable individual, but he's not exactly the fountain of creative ideas that Jobs was (how original those ideas were is an ongoing debate, but nevertheless). I think it's a remarkably introspective move, recognizing weakness and moving to rectify it. Put another way it's much better than the "strategy" of suing everybody who uses fruit or 4 sided shapes in their products as a hedge against the lack of creative direction from the top.
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- barista 14y agoGood for the people who work there but to me this looks like yet another sign where apple is becoming like the "other companies". No longer think different.
- huxley 14y agoI see it more as a sign that "20% time" projects are becoming an employment benefit, particularly important if Apple is competing with Google for some of the same talent.
- doomlaser 14y agoI thought that Google didn't really have 20% time anymore.
- czhiddy 14y agoNone of my half-dozen friends at Google have 20% time. I think the common joke that it's "120%" time might actually be accurate.
- j_baker 14y agoI don't think it's accurate. Plenty of Googlers have 20% projects they spend 20% of their time on.
- fmela 14y ago20% time is alive and well, but not everyone takes advantage of the opportunity.
- 0xfe 14y agoThey do. Many Googlers don't use it. I've had many 20% projects over the years (and still do.)
- ChuckMcM 14y agoFWIW, 20% time was always controversial. I was part of 'the surge' (a big hiring wave that peaked in 2006 and then died off) and a common complaint was the low number employees had 100% time (they could work on what ever they wanted) and high number employees had to get their manager's approval, and their manager only approved it if it was something the manager needed doing. Given the nature of that particular 'perk' it was really hard to quantify it for the employee handbook. I came to believe that it was a sort of test, kind of like the tests in Starship Troopers where if you did something that clearly was going to be a Google product or feature then you got points for that, but if nobody could figure out what use it would be, you got penalized. And the option was like either +1 point or -10 demerits (i.e. very unbalanced). So over my four years the strictures on what was or wasn't 'acceptable use' of your 20% time got more and more constrained. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the language had morphed into 'if your really a star performer we'll let you pick your next project' rather than the oft misunderstood 20% to do whatever you want.
- philip1209 14y agoThe font on the website is really difficult for me to read - it causes me to overly strain my eyes.
- alwaysinshade 14y agoI’m glad Tim Cook is trying new things like this, involving Jony Ive in Human Interface design and becoming more involved in charity. I just wish they’d shitcan the lawsuits and get on with making products. Hopefully the HTC licensing agreement is the beginning of the end of SJ’s “thermonuclear” tantrum. The only way to beat the competition is to make products that are too difficult and costly to replicate – they already use fairly exclusive materials for their hardware, sophisticated designs and have an unmatched retail chain - now they need to step up in the software department. They have the money but need the inspiration.
- FireBeyond 14y ago"they already use fairly exclusive materials for their hardware" What, exactly? As someone who has used an iPhone 3, 4S, iPad 3, and many other mobile devices, I'm really struggling to think of a material that is "fairly exclusive" to Apple.
- elithrar 14y ago> What, exactly? As someone who has used an iPhone 3, 4S, iPad 3, and many other mobile devices, I'm really struggling to think of a material that is "fairly exclusive" to Apple. I think he means "fairly exclusive material usage". There's not many high-end smartphones from Samsung/HTC/LG/etc. that have aluminium frames and/or bodies. The new Nexus phone by LG does appear to use glass on the back though, which seems nice.
- nickpinkston 14y agoThey have their own aluminum alloy made specifically for the phone. Custom plastics, dyes, colors, etc. They've got enough scale/buyer power to optimize to the n-th. Not to mention that the A-series processor is Apple only, they get early access to the best screens, etc.
- ricardobeat 14y agoNot to mention they use forging instead of casting for the aluminum bodies, and have their own white paint formula (most manufacturers don't even bother trying to make white devices). Plastic was still the norm for PCs until the "Ultrabook" wave came along.
- firefox 14y agoBest of luck to the ones "affected" as everyone that I know who works at Apple are already overworked, stressed and being asked to work while on vacation.
- activepeanut 14y agoIndeed. Ditto for certain groups at Google (cough android cough). Either have a dedicated research group, or give people a pass at being 20% less productive at their regular job. Here's a novel idea.. increase your workforce by 20%? I know, that's just crazy talk. :)
- oscardelben 14y agoYou may want to read "The Mythical Man Month".
- genuine 14y agoYou know that part of the reason that Google's interviews are so difficult is that they can hire younger people that have bright minds, no families, and that will work crazy hours? The side benefit is that they have geniuses working there.
- xbryanx 14y agoThis concept of Bootlegging[1], isn't "Google's" and dates back to the late 1960s. I always think of Post-it notes as the pre-digital poster child for this sort of internal, yet personal, innovation. [1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootlegging_(business) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootlegging_(business)
- tedmiston 14y agoBootlegging is an unnatural term, and has a historically negative connotation. The definition mentions secrecy and unauthorized projects, yet a few paragraphs later awkwardly adds a permitted form.
- pyrotechnick 14y agoYou seem to have confused a few monkeys tapping on keyboards "collaboratively" for some kind of trustworthy source of definition. Good thing Kenneth E. Knight introduced the notion bootlegging in 1967; well before the gnomes could ever get their filthy mitts near it. Try not to let a few control-freaks on Wikipedia desecrate your language more than it already has. You owe them nothing.
- tedmiston 14y agoThe official definition from Knight's seminal paper "A Descriptive Model of the Intra-Firm Innovation Process" [1]: "Bootlegging: In some instances the innovator may be able to implement a new idea by keeping the development under cover from the disapproving power in the organization until it is introduced. At that time it may be impossible for the organization to reverse itself." It's reasonable to consider the authority of a Wikipedia entry, but in this case I believe the maintainers simply modernized "under cover" and "disapproving power". 1: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2351630 http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2351630
- shasta 14y ago4% time, then.
- marksaccucci 14y agoI think all companies should encourage this. When I read this, Bell Labs comes to mind. Bell Labs had a recipe for brilliant innovation and I think all companies should take note!
- jacques_chester 14y ago> Bell Labs had a recipe for brilliant innovation Government-guaranteed monopoly profits? Harder to achieve than it looks.
- chimeracoder 14y ago> Government-guaranteed monopoly profits? They also were forbidden from profiting from a large portion of the work that they did.... If that weren't the case, we wouldn't have GNU.
- 1SaltwaterC 14y agoWe wouldn't have OS X as it is today either.
- marksaccucci 14y agoI think all companies should encourage this. When I read this, Bell Labs comes to mind. Bell Labs had a recipe for brilliant innovation and I think all companies should take note!
- marksaccucci 14y agoI think all companies should encourage this. When I read this, Bell Labs comes to mind. Bell Labs had a recipe for brilliant innovation and I think all companies should take note!
- marksaccucci 14y agoI think all companies should encourage this. When I read this, Bell Labs comes to mind. Bell Labs had a recipe for brilliant innovation and I think all companies should take note!
- ruswick 14y agoApple is blatantly and abjectly stealing from Google. This is an egregious and shameless flaunting of the thousands of hours of tireless effort and innovation that went into crafting Google's unique and beautiful culture. Pathetic. /sarcasm
- The_Egg_Man 14y agoIt's only a matter of time before they patent the 20% Time and sue Google for it.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- te_chris 14y agoSounds like a way to give employees leave without actually giving them leave.
- genuine 14y agoWe talked about doing this at my last job, and never did. When I read "...gives a small group of employees 2 weeks or ‘a limited amount of time’ to work on a project outside of their normal responsibilities at Apple", it made me think of the same attitude- the inability to commit to full-on innovation and creativity. Tim Cook, you are a great CEO, but you don't know how to take sufficient risk to get the reward. Everyone should get the 20% time. Don't do anything half-assed, ever. Even better would be to 1-up Google and say that you don't give a flying fuck what your employees do as long as they are innovating for the company and doing what they love to make people's lives better.
- michaelochurch 14y agoWe talked about doing this at my last job, and never did. When I read "...gives a small group of employees 2 weeks or ‘a limited amount of time’ to work on a project outside of their normal responsibilities at Apple", it made me think of the same attitude- the inability to commit to full-on innovation and creativity. Tim Cook, you are a great CEO, but you don't know how to take sufficient risk to get the reward. Everyone should get the 20% time. Don't do anything half-assed, ever. Even better would be to 1-up Google and say that you don't give a flying fuck what your employees do as long as they are innovating for the company and doing what they love to make people's lives better. This is an awesome post. I award you with an Indignation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtCiP8B2xpc#t=7s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtCiP8B2xpc#t=7s
- genuine 14y agoThank you! "Whenever you're ready" is my favorite part.
- scottmp10 14y agoGoogle's 20% time was great while I was there. Not everyone takes advantage of it (which is a good thing in many cases - you shouldn't force someone to). But it won't be very beneficial at a company as internally locked down as Apple. It only works when there is open communication of ideas internally. Google, for instance, has internal career fairs where you can check out less-well-known projects for 20% or full time opportunities.
- bickfordb 14y agoInstead of version, I think it would be more accurate to say 3.8% time (two out of fifty-two weeks). 20% time would be over ten weeks by my arithmetic. Although I think it's a generous gesture for a mega cap like Apple, I think this is a little silly. At a big company such as Apple can't you gain or lose 3.8% of your day simply by shuffling around your coffee break or gratuitous meeting schedule?
- Surio 14y agoI am coming too late into this article (one day old already...), but here's an observation that stood out for me that I wanted to share here. Whenever there is discussion on Apple and "invention", I am reminded of this (somewhat) contrarian opinion piece by Gladwell:-- http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/16/110516fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/16/110516fa_fact_... Punchline towards the end: Then Starkweather had a scheme for hooking up a high-resolution display to one of his new company’s computers. “I got it running and brought it into management and said, ‘Why don’t we show this at the tech expo in San Francisco? You’ll be able to rule the world.’ They said, ‘I don’t know. We don’t have room for it.’ It was that sort of thing. It was like me saying I’ve discovered a gold mine and you saying we can’t afford a shovel.” He shrugged a little wearily. It was ever thus. The innovator says go. The company says stop—and maybe the only lesson of the legend of Xerox PARC is that what happened there happens, in one way or another, everywhere. By the way, the man who hired Gary Starkweather away to the company that couldn’t afford a shovel? His name was Steve Jobs