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The 20% Doctrine: How Tinkering, Goofing Off, and Breaking the Rules at Work Drive Success in Business Hardcover – April 17, 2012

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Ryan Tate (Author)
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Ryan Tate (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 19 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: HarperBusiness (April 17, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0062003232
  • ISBN-13: 978-0062003232
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,652,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThis is Why the MBA's Are Scratchig Their Heads!
By 4moreshelflife on September 13, 2012
Format: Hardcover
A candid look at the companies that use the 20% doctrine to cultivate each employee's created passion for a particular project or idea. Wish all companies and non-profits thought this way. Even MBA's are scratching their heads on why this works so well and not taught in school.
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5.0 out of 5 starsEnjoyable read on an interesting topic
By Fred Caldwell on January 15, 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed reading this book on the subject of taking a fresh look at the way that companies can nurture a culture of innovation and creativity. I recently took on a pet project of seeing if I could bring the idea of a Hackathon to the company I work at, and came across this book as I was researching the topic online. I had been struggling with the fact that 20% projects at companies like Google seemed more easily achieved since the engineering resources are more fungible than what you might expect at a company that also does a lot of hardware design.

What I liked about it is that the author did a nice job of looking at the subject of "tinkering" in a relatively broad way that made the prospect of doing something similar at any sort of company seem more tenable. There were several case studies that were intended to support the thesis stated in the title, and I think that they served their purpose well.

I ended up using several key concepts from the various case studies for my company's Hackathon, and felt that this was a credible playbook for how to instill this type of culture beyond its traditional software domain.
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5.0 out of 5 starsI loved it!
By Lauren Isaacson on May 18, 2012
Format: Hardcover
"This was a unique focus on our changing business practices and culture. I loved the variety of passionate pursuits that resulted in business successes--a teacher and a chef amongst the tech-world ventures. Tate truly captured the precipice of where we are with our changing workplace. We spend so much of our lives working, and the combination of the new technology and upcoming, younger generation of workers has humanized the workplace. Tate stated it well: "...we should end up with more innovation, creativity, emotional touch points, and indeed more humanity in the modern workplace." This was a fun, touching, and inspiring read on so many levels--one of those rare books that leaves you sad when it's over precisely because it's over. Truly unique and timely!"
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5.0 out of 5 starsLiked it so much I bought it as a gift for 2 others as well.
By Amazon Customer on May 9, 2012
Format: Hardcover
I loved this book. Someone recommended it to me and I liked it even more that I thought I would. It really made me think about how different things are now than when I was growing up. I found the book to be through in making it's point and really well researched. It shows a great understanding of this generation and will give a good idea of how college grads should now be thinking when they are entering the work force.
I bought it for my father and a friend and found that even with a 30 year age span between them they both found it not only equally as interesting but a great read.
I like the author's style and will definitely be looking for his next book.
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4.0 out of 5 starsquick and fun...
By booknosh on March 1, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Cut to the Chase:
This was a quick and fun read, though, like many other business novels, I’m not sure how much of what I learned is applicable to real life/my business as opposed to just interesting trivia/anecdotes. Tate interviewed and researched not just the history of 20% time, but shares with us the process by which some 20% projects have transformed a company’s mission/history/etc (e.g. how a Google engineer invented Gmail, which then required AdSense to fund it, etc). I found it to be enjoyable and interesting, though again, I’m not terribly certain how well it fulfills my “I’ve learned something new from this nonfiction book” requirement.

Greater Detail:
The idea of the book is an interesting one — it starts with Tate talking to a business school professor who realized that not only were many of his graduates not going on to some of the best business positions out there, but increasingly, that some of the biggest companies were headed by people with little or no formal business education.

He talks about how companies have kind of waxed and waned on the 20% idea (that Google, which was once a big proponent of it, has shifted and, though it’s still allowed, it isn’t as actively championed and free-form as before), how it started long before the current Silicon Valley upstarts (a 3M engineer bootstrapped his own project, hence the title of the first chapter: that 20% time allows employees to “scratch” at their own itches).

I found some of the how-did-it-happen stories fascinating: how one Google founder was originally very against the idea of shifting their company’s focus away from search, how they felt Gmail might be brand destroying, how it was two and a half years in the making… and all of this before the company had 20% time.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsInteresting & Informative
By Gary J. Gilbert Jr. on March 3, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
A worthwhile read about an interesting business practice. Although 20% time wouldn't necessarily work for my organization, this book did cause me to stop and consider that there are probably some gems hidden amongst our human resources. This short book could be finished in an afternoon, and should be read by anyone interested in business or business leadership.
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4.0 out of 5 starsA Worthy Goal but Some Bad Examples
By bronx book nerd VINE VOICE on October 2, 2012
Format: Hardcover
This book lauds the policy of setting aside 20% of an employee's time to work on side projects. This has worked in various companies, most dramatically at Google. The idea is that employees are allowed to work on projects that are not part of their regular assignment; that is, they can carve out the time to work on their own interests and passions. Naturally, projects like these will be driven by added motivation. The result has been terrific ideas, like Google AdSense and gmail, for example. The author takes case studies like the Google experience and others and gleans from them lessons for "20 percenters": scratch your own itch, build something simple and quick, bend over backward to make do with existing systems. I think the advice is right on the mark and should help companies or individuals who venture into side projects to do well. My major criticism of the book is that not all the examples, in my opinion, are real 20% projects. The Huffington Post's Off the Bus experiment, where individuals were recruited to provide "citizen journalism", was not something that was done on the side by a current employee; in fact, someone was hired to focus only on that. The same goes with the Bronx Charter school. Charter schools are a supported program of New York City's Department of Education; they're not something that some principals are doing on the side, in addition to their regular job. One of the additional shortcomings that I found in the charter school story was that the author didn't specify exactly what helped them succeed in the classroom - that would have been good to know. Perhaps the problem is that there really aren't that many 20% success stories, not because the idea doesn't work, but because it isn't tried.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsI love the stories of how the guts and dedication of ...

I love the stories of how the guts and dedication of each person behind a 20% projects gave it the momentum to become a real public thing. Read more

Published on November 2, 2014 by William J. Schultz
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat book

Grat book that helps you understand the basic concepts of the 20% principle. Easy to read and understand.

Should read it!

Published on August 3, 2014 by Jose Troncoso
2.0 out of 5 starsTries to be a book on productivity, fails horribly

More "here's what other people do" than actual useful advice, steer clear if you're looking for actual help in productivity.

Published on June 28, 2014 by MozillaMonks
3.0 out of 5 starsNot a great boook, but interesting

Not a particularly well written book, it explores with some liberties its main premise but sometimes fails to show how these stories of success are replicable. Read more

Published on June 21, 2014 by Valentín
3.0 out of 5 starsI Recommend Reading 20% of the Book

The author presents a handful of successful 20% projects in a range of industries. If you have done any reading about or working in the computing industry, the idea of 20% time... Read more

Published on May 8, 2014 by See Reverse
3.0 out of 5 starsGood read, wish it had more detials

About halfway through the book and so far I like it. Personally I though the book would take a bit more about the nitty gritty of creating projects using the 20% but it seemed a... Read more

Published on November 9, 2013 by E. Janis
4.0 out of 5 starsGood read and good ideas

I really enjoyed the chapters on Google mail, twitter, Flickr, etc. I felt the Huffington chapter went on way too long, I got the picture early on but perhaps I just preferred the... Read more

Published on October 29, 2013 by Shimska
4.0 out of 5 starsThe 20% - I liked 80% of it.

Very engaging, interesting narratives about how the 20% doctrine
was born and works for Silicon Valley and similar companies,
but how does it work for places like where... Read more

Published on May 9, 2013 by Kevin
5.0 out of 5 starsA compelling case for letting your employees' creativity run wild...at...

Veteran business journalist Ryan Tate explores how firms generate innovation based on Google's approach, which allows employees to spend 20% of their paid time on personal... Read more

Published on October 23, 2012 by Rolf Dobelli

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