

100% time - lemming
http://cemerick.com/2013/02/15/100-time/

======
cemerick
Author here. While I appreciate the reads, I am even more glad for the
amusement provided by various comments about how I'm confused about what "100%
time" means (since, AFAIK, the post is where the term was first used outside
of private conversations with friends of mine), or that it's potentially
illegal, or that it's really just the typical 80/20 split and I can't tell the
difference. Cheers! :-D

Snark aside, Craig Andera asked me about the post on a recent Relevance
podcast, and we talked about it and matters related to 100% time for a good
stretch:

[http://thinkrelevance.com/blog/2013/05/14/chas-emerick-
mostl...](http://thinkrelevance.com/blog/2013/05/14/chas-emerick-mostly-lazy-
podcast-episode-031)

~~~
furyofantares
> since, AFAIK, the post is where the term was first used outside of private
> conversations with friends of mine

I believe the term is used in the Valve employees handbook

~~~
cemerick
It's close (from
[http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.p...](http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf)):

    
    
        We’ve heard that other companies have people allocate a
        percentage of their time to self-directed projects. At 
        Valve, that percentage is 100.
    

I definitely don't claim any originality in the concept. The pithy, perhaps
eye-roll-worthy phrasing, maybe. ;-)

~~~
loumf
Didn't I just read on HN that the Valve thing was BS? [http://www.develop-
online.net/news/44746/Valves-perfect-hiri...](http://www.develop-
online.net/news/44746/Valves-perfect-hiring-hierarchy-has-hidden-management-
clique-like-High-School)

I know Chas fairly well, and I'm reasonably sure this isn't what he was
talking about.

~~~
cemerick
Yes, that reply was only regarding the particular phrase "100% time", and the
very broad concept of self-directed work.

~~~
dugmartin
This is turning into a Western Mass developers thread. Paging cmiles74 and
ggualberto.

------
zaidf
_100% time means that I choose what to care about, and then dedicate all my
energy to making that choice have impact_

There isn't a lot of difference between 100% time and the concept of 80-20.
You are interpreting the 80% time almost like slavery while making it seem
like your 100% time provides _complete_ freedom. I bet the reality is in
between. The 80% time is still spent working for a company you're _choosing_
to work for, often on projects you're choosing to work on and often work that
you're enjoying. Meanwhile, even when you have the freedom to dedicate 100% of
your life on whatever you'd like, you're still compelled to decide what to
prioritize and what to turn down because of a lack of time.

~~~
coffeemug
I run a business. In theory I have 100% time. In practice, I still have to
choose to do grunt work 80% of the time (or more) if I want my business to
succeed. You can redefine and reshuffle the numbers, but ultimately the work
that needs to get done _needs to get done_.

We designed our company in such a way that to some degree everyone has 100%
time. We get together and choose priorities as a group, and then everyone can
spend their time as they wish, as long as the goals we agreed on as a team are
met. People still choose to do grunt work, since they realize it needs to get
done for the company to succeed. There is no way to escape that.

I think that ultimately, it's a matter of having the choice that makes a
difference between fulfillment and misery. But even if you can _choose_ what
to work on, you still have to do unpleasant work at least some of the time.

~~~
cemerick
For sure, there are times when certain things simply have to get done. I
didn't talk about that side of things simply because it would have diluted the
message, and I figured that it was a given.

However, contrary to what the GP says, 100% time (at least, my personal
experience) bears little to no resemblance to the 80/20 split found in many
workplaces. I don't know what the split actually shakes out to in my case, but
short of allowing random HNers to surveil me (as tantalizing a notion as that
may be :-P), everyone will just have to take me at my word that what I'm
talking about isn't some sugar-coated notion of "it feels like I'm not working
because I love my work so much".

~~~
lectrick
I am a person who severely can't stand paperwork. (ADD may be a factor.) Yet
I'd be just the sort of person who would actually be productive in a self-
directed fashion. Do you think that striking out on my own could work? I would
pay money for someone else to do the paperwork side (although I'd have to
trust them, of course...)

------
rlu
I admire (and in some ways totally agree with/follow) the message.

Having said that, I don't really think that you can say that with his "100%
time" he can still achieve what Google employees once did during 20% time. My
understanding is that Google now (and for a while) has not actually continued
to uphold the 20% tradition - and that was expected with company growth - but
back when it did, the idea was that you could spend 20% of your time to build
your own side project using Google resources and while getting paid by Google.
Maybe it would become super popular and be a 'real product' some day.

With "100% time" you certainly cannot legally do this. I can't go to work and
devote some time to some side project using my company's resources and while
getting paid to be doing other work. Sure, I could put in "100% time" into
doing it, but it would be illegal.

Like I said, I like the message, but mentioning 20% time seems wrong since you
can't compare the two. In my opinion, anyways.

~~~
mathgladiator
In terms of legality, it really depends on what kind of covenants you went
into.

The 20% thing at Google is currently a marketing lie, and now Google is very
much so a "team dependent" environment. That is, 20% is only allowed based on
your team and the politics around your group. (based on several current/former
google employers that I've talked to...)

~~~
magicalist
> The 20% thing at Google is currently a marketing lie

There was a thread recently where some googlers said the opposite. The main
thing I've heard is that you have to actually assert yourself and take the 20%
time, it's not going to be set aside for you.

Edit: this one:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5982333](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5982333)

~~~
qwerta
If you already work 50 hours a week, I am sure they will happily allow
additional 10 hours for your hobbies :-)

------
petercooper
I'm doing something similar. I sold the technology of my (very) small startup
in 2007 and had enough to stop "working" and putz around for a few years. I
had no aim but kept trying whatever took my fancy. Eventually, something
clicked as being in demand, profitable, and something I enjoyed doing. That's
now my new business and I try to optimize so that at least 80% of the work is
something I enjoy doing (and try to outsource anything that I don't!)

Without that initial runway, however, I'd never have done it and this idea of
having some extended time off or having a healthy pillow of cash to cushion a
potential fall seems to be a common element of many stories like this.

~~~
cemerick
I've not had an exit (threading that needle with a small software product
business seems to be particularly challenging), but I hope I've been able to
accomplish something similar in terms of searching for the next best thing. I
_think_ I've found it, but only time will tell; at the very least, I feel like
I've found something like a "life's work" worth thinking about in those terms,
so that's something...

Thanks for sharing! :-)

------
davidw
This sums up very nicely why I'm interested in building a company. It's not
something I'm a 'natural' at (I'm not a great programmer, but I feel _very_ at
home with it), and I don't care about being rich, I just want time and
freedom.

Even with the small amount of money I've made with LiberWriter, I've tasted
some of that decoupling he talks about - it's an awesome feeling when someone
signs up, asks a few questions to our support team, and has their book done
without me lifting a finger!

------
veesahni
Great post! I have much of the same motivations, which keeps me persevering
towards my goals.

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jaimebuelta
Not sure about this. 20% time put some boundaries, and marks that you should
be doing something different. It can be typically abused (hey, I'm supposed to
have 20% for "other projects", but I have a deadline, so I'll use it for the
"regular work"), but at least there is a line in the sand saying: "This is
clearly time for OTHER STUFF". Your manager can say to you "hey, it's friday
so you should be leaving this alone and do alternative projects"

100% sounds great, but does not define anything, so it's extremely easy to
fall into "I have a lot of work, I can move to other stuff when the workload
goes down". Of course, workload never goes down...

~~~
cemerick
(Author here.) I agree that 100% time does not define anything. That is
definitional. ;-) I'm "the boss" of the business, so I'm pretty well in
control of what gets done and what doesn't.

The whole thing requires a great deal of self-control and psychological
awareness…though I'd suggest that without that, the business that makes the
whole thing possible in the first place probably wouldn't exist.

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Pavan_
100% time idea can only be possible in a start up company. If you consider any
big corporate company, they don't even allow 10% time policy. This makes an
engineer just another labor.

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jimhefferon
Trapped my back button.

