It’s Friday! You might be thinking about weekend plans or your upcoming summer vacation, so a perfect time to share an article by Howard Baldwin on Network World about “Time off to innovate: Good idea or waste of tech talent?” Read on and let us know what you think?
Many experts agree that without dedicated time to innovate, innovation often gets put on the back burner to short-term priorities and deadlines. For some companies “Innovation Time Off” or ITO has helped to spur new thinking. Creativity programs are not new. Many well-known companies, such as Google and 3M, have dedicated time for employees to think outside of their day-to-day about new solutions and products.
Here are a few “pros” and “cons” that the experts point out:
Pros
- Employees receive the freedom to explore and be creative- boosting morale!
- Potential to unlock new revenue and/or productivity gains.
Cons
- It can be extremely difficult to let a developer “off” from the day’s priority work.
- Some employees have a hard time being creative when they know that the regular deadlines and work still looms ahead.
Before embarking on your own creativity program, think about what you can offer for frequency and what kind of structure or milestones should apply. Experts also recommend making participation voluntary and extending beyond developers to the whole IT staff.
