Make the 80/20 Rule Work For Engineers in 5 Easy Steps

Givelify developed a policy that gives engineers the space, guidance, and time they need to engage in creative problem-solving — it’s called “Functional Days.”

In 2004, Google announced a policy that left many employers scratching their heads in wonder. The IPO letter released by founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page described what they called Innovative Time Out (ITO) — a concept they hoped would spark more creative problem-solving efforts across the company.

Essentially, they described a workplace culture in which employees only spent 80% of their time working on core company projects. Employees could spend the other 20% of their time innovating on passion projects.

This unique policy resulted in some of the company’s most significant developments, including Gmail, AdSense, and Google News — so there’s evidence that dedicating time for ingenuity works.

But some have criticized Google’s 80/20 rule, relabeling it as the 120% rule because it became cumbersome for employees to take time off from their regular jobs. ITOs aren’t beneficial if they add more work to everyone’s plate and stress employees out.

So at Givelify, we’ve developed a version of ITOs that gives our engineers the space, guidance, and time they need to engage in creative problem-solving. We call our concept “Functional Days.”

What Are Functional Days?

Givelify’s Functional Days have become a unique tradition that distinguishes us among tech companies. All of our engineers and technology team members at Givelify participate in this event that lasts for two days at the end of every month.

Functional Days last for two days. During this time, engineers are free to prototype, learn, tackle tech debt, and collaborate in new teams without any particular product or business commitment in mind.

Why Do Engineers Need Functional Days?

In the engineering industry, innovation has to happen from the ground up. But unfortunately, this isn’t always possible with endless sprints and deliverables on deck.

Functional Days allow engineers to switch up the ongoing series of sprints and deliverables to work on new projects, keeping spirits and excitement levels high for engineers. As a result, they can grow their skills, drive empowerment, and explore brand-new solutions to problems they face every day.

At Givelify seen several initiatives result from previous functional days, including:

• Progress on tech-debt, breaking down of monolithic systems into services
• Development of internal tools to help customer success and customer support better engage with our donors and giving partners
• Simulated data set generators and clean up systems for performance test systems
• Our Zoom app for Giving during the height of COVID
• Givelify’s automated Snap To Give generator

Bring Functional Days To Your Engineering Team in 5 Steps

Making Functional Days work for your team will require some adaptation, but these five core pillars can help you get started.

1. Foster a climate of creativity and collaboration.

If your employees are constantly overworked and tired, it’s difficult to inspire any kind of creativity. So before making functional days work for your team, reflect on the existing culture within your organization. Do employees have the desire to explore unique solutions and expand on their current skill sets? Does your team have the bandwidth to tackle new ideas? If not, functional days are a perfect way to start fostering that culture.

Leaders can also foster creativity by making Functional Days something the team looks forward to. And there’s no better way to do this than by inviting space for joy.

If you have an in-person team or a central office, bring coffee and bagels for the team and invite them to socialize and chat before diving in for the day. You could also host a virtual lunch hour where people can share ideas over a Zoom call if you’re virtual. This small time for socialization will help team members connect more organically and stimulate a spirit of collaboration. You can order lunch for everyone on functional days.

2. Designate a Functional Days committee and set an agenda.

Functional Days are sure to flop if they aren’t fully fleshed out and planned, and this kind of organization requires a dedicated committee. At Givelify, our committees design functional days that take several different forms.

Functional days have a loose structure on some days, with the Engineering and Technology leadership driving training and projects. Other days, the process is free-flowing. For example, we share ideas on a board and encourage engineers to add to them so they can recruit other employees who share an interest in bringing ideas to life.

3. Allocate ample time for teamwork.

If you wait until employees have free time to invite them to be innovative, you won’t see much progress. So instead, Givelify offers our team members two full days to dedicate to their projects and initiatives.

By dedicating two full days instead of one, teams can make meaningful progress and coordinate more efficiently. Mention to other business teams that regular sprints during Functional Days have a slower velocity and ensure there’s not as much pressure on engineers to deliver on sprints.

4. Invite transparency and drive accountability.

Here’s the thing — it doesn’t matter if the projects ever see the light of day. Inviting innovation is an investment in and of itself, one that boosts morale and fosters an overall culture of creativity and problem-solving.

To promote a high level of buy-in, transparency is a critical part of the process. Therefore, Givelify asks teams to present project summaries at the end of each functional day, offering a chance to share what teams achieved or discovered through their work.

Team-led presentations are another excellent way to cultivate a spirit of innovation. Other teammates can see what kind of projects are in motion across the company, and leaders gain invaluable presentation experience.

5. Get feedback.

Finally, remember that Functional Days should adapt and shape themselves around your team’s unique interests and needs. As such, gathering feedback from your team and tweaking your Functional Days is vital.

Allow input on how projects and teams are formed, and you’ll strengthen the overall buy-in, making every Functional Day more successful than the last. Send feedback surveys immediately following Functional Days and encourage everyone who participated in giving their honest feedback.

Ready to Give Functional Days a Try?

At Givelify, we strive to drive innovation forward and help our engineers find their passions. And now that you understand how to make functional days work, you can put them into practice, too! So drop me a line in the comments and let me know how your first Functional Day turned out.