The 70/20/10 Rule
All Google employees follow a rule called the 70/20/10 rule, under which they are expected to devote 70 percent of every work day to whichever projects are assigned by management, 20 percent of each day to new projects or ideas related to their core projects, and 10 percent to any new ideas they want to pursue regardless of what they might be. The company credits this rule with being the driving force behind many of Google's new products and services, because programmers, salespeople and even executives are given enough space to be creative. When the company became too large to easily manage the flow of new ideas and projects, it instituted a schedule of meetings between employees and the company's founders and chief executives. At these meetings, employees can pitch new ideas and projects directly to the top executives