FedEx Days and 20% Time
Dedicate structured autonomous time for creative exploration to unlock innovation and engagement
FedEx Days are 24-hour bursts of autonomy where employees work on any problem they want, then present results to the company the next day -- named because you have to deliver something overnight. 20% Time extends this principle, allowing employees to spend one-fifth of their work time on self-directed projects. Both practices institutionalize autonomy over task -- one of the four T's of Type I motivation. The concept traces from 3M's 15% bootlegging policy (which produced Post-it Notes) through Google's 20% time (which birthed Gmail, Google News, and Google Translate) to Atlassian's FedEx Days and formal 20% time program. These initiatives aren't pay-for-performance plans grounded in Motivation 2.0 -- they're autonomy plans tuned to Motivation 3.0.
- Autonomy over task -- choosing what you work on -- is essential for creative, nonroutine work
- The four T's of autonomy: Task, Time, Technique, and Team
- Money is only something you can lose on -- beyond adequate pay, autonomy and creative freedom matter more
- Constraints can enhance creativity -- the 24-hour FedEx Day deadline forces focus and delivery
- People are far more efficient with autonomous time than regular work time because they choose meaningful problems
- Trust is essential -- tracking and monitoring autonomous time undermines its motivational power
- Start with a FedEx Day pilotSet aside 24 hours where team members can work on any problem they want, with anyone they want, using any approach they want. The only rule: they must deliver something -- a prototype, fix, hack, or concept -- at the end and present it to the group.Pro tipAtlassian fuels their FedEx Days with cold beer and chocolate cake at the 4 PM Friday presentations. Make the sharing session celebratory and low-pressure.WarningThe project must be something outside people's regular job to break them out of day-to-day patterns and unlock novel thinking.
- Evaluate results and build the caseDocument the innovations, fixes, and ideas that emerge from the first FedEx Day. Use these concrete outcomes to justify expanding the practice and to address skeptics who question the investment.Pro tipCannon-Brookes responds to CFO objections by showing a long list of delivered innovations, zero engineering turnover, and highly motivated engineers constantly improving the product.
- Consider expanding to 20% timeIf FedEx Days prove productive, consider giving people ongoing autonomous time -- typically 20% of their work week -- to pursue self-directed projects. This allows sustained development of ideas that can't be completed in 24 hours.Pro tipAt Google, more than half of new offerings in a typical year are birthed during 20% time, including Gmail, Google News, and Google Translate.WarningDon't track or micromanage how people spend their 20% time. When Atlassian managers wanted to monitor usage, Cannon-Brookes refused -- that level of control defeats the purpose.
- Institutionalize and protect the practiceMake autonomous creative time a permanent part of the culture, not a one-off experiment. Protect it from encroachment by regular project demands and management pressure to reclaim the time.Pro tipAtlassian found that most employees used substantially less than 20% because they didn't want to let down current teammates -- the constraint is voluntary conscientiousness, not laziness.WarningWithout institutional protection, 20% time will be the first thing cut during busy periods, destroying trust and signaling that autonomy was never genuinely valued.
Atlassian's engineers work through the night on self-chosen problems every quarter, presenting results over beer and cake the next afternoon. The practice produced an array of software fixes and features that might otherwise never have emerged.
William McKnight established a policy in the 1930s-40s letting technical staff spend 15% of their time on personal projects. Scientist Art Fry used this bootlegging time to develop Post-it Notes.
Google engineers spend one day per week on side projects of their choosing. Krishna Bharat created Google News during 20% time. Paul Bucheit created Gmail as his 20% project.
Australian software company Atlassian, cofounded by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, created FedEx Days to spark greater creativity. Engineers could work on anything they wanted for 24 hours, then present results over beer and chocolate cake. The concept proved so productive that Atlassian expanded to formal 20% time. The deeper roots trace to 3M's William McKnight, who in the 1930s-40s encouraged experimental doodling and let technical staff spend 15% of time on personal projects -- leading to Post-it Notes and most of 3M's breakthrough innovations.