Secrets of Flow, Episode 6 - Dec 3, 2024: The Elusive 20% Time

Do you recall the old story how Google engineers spent 20% of their time working on their own projects? Engineers in other companies tried doing the same, but mostly ran into managers' resistance or got mixed results.
The well-hidden key to this practice is the inverse relationship between utilization and responsiveness. Utilization, when kept under 100%, enables fast responses and agility. This has important consequences today for enterprises with dependencies on internal experts and outside vendors.
00:00 Start
00:50 How it began: 20% time, can we do it in our company, too? Why? Something important underneath
02:40 Consequences, practical advice: for program managers, businesses with vendors/outsourcing, for busy professionals
04:07 the 20% time from software engineer's POV
05:14 From manager's POV
06:33 Arguments for and against, mostly missing the point
07:50 Utilization vs queue size/responsiveness
08:42 Utilization/responsiveness in non-technical computer user experience
10:05 in daily life
11:24 Two systems side-by-side, one designed to keep workers busy, the other to make sure customers don't wait
12:00 Understanding utilization in workplace
13:28 Knowledge work is different, demand doesn't stop
14:20 Scientists have studied such systems, this is a solved problem
16:42 Avoid the worst damage from long-queue conditions
17:18 Impact of high utilization on customers and business
19:00 Several immediate conclusions, what this is and isn't about
20:46 Missing the point in worse ways, don't do this
22:00 Is 80 the new 100?
23:09 Escaping the utilization trap, balance of demand and capability, some strategies, business impact
27:08 Program managers, program with multiple teams & services, maintaining optimal utilization
31:23 Let's try to go faster, adding a team, pushing shared services into overburdening
33:35 Reallocating teams, results opposite of intentions
34:35 Understand dependencies & demand on them
36:20 Vendors/outsourcing, the picture is similar, but you have less control
37:19 Cost-saving is important, but no free lunch, something on flip side, we need to manage it
39:22 Watching out for trouble, tight feedback loops
41:16 Overburdening of professionals
42:20 Two jobs in one, look for a systemic solution
43:47 Conclusions/summary
45:03 Extra material: thank-yous, future plans, a short tour behind the scenes, Stack Overflow collision, a small tribute to Don Reinertsen, next episode topic
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