At the time of this program's implementation, the United States' workforce was composed of highly inflexible employment opportunities in rigid business structures.
"[5] Employees were encouraged to spend up to 20 percent of their paid work time pursuing personal projects.
[6][7] As recognition of the benefits of retaining such a scheme grew, schools have replicated this system for their students in the classroom environment.
The production of such creatively stimulated, ungraded work allows for students to experiment with ideas without fear of assessment and may increase their involvement in their general studies.
[19] Around 2013, some Google employees stated that the company had discontinued 20 percent time entirely or had it reworked from its original concept.
Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page advised that workers "spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google".
[22] Finally, developer Krishna Bharat created Google News as an individual pursuit and hobby.
The induction of the system was a six-month trial, granting $1 million to engineers and allowing them to work on private projects based on personal interests.
The 20% Project aided in the development of AdSense, a program where publishers can produce media advertisements for a targeted audience.
[citation needed] The service can now offer ads in the form of simple text, flash video or rich media.
At the end of the experiment, surveyed developers expressed that the biggest problem they faced was scheduling time for 20% work on top of the pressure to deliver new features and fix bugs.
[citation needed] The 20% Project is designed to let employees experiment without the pressure of company decline or the threat of unemployment.
The loss of time previously spent on major company-aligned projects can negatively affect a company's overall performance.
[6] In Google executive Laszlo Bock's book, Work Rules!, he mentions that the concept has "waxed and waned."
Atlassian Co-Founder Mike Cannon-Brookes implemented the 20% Project as a test to see if it produced any notable improvements or detriments to the company's output.