IBM ThinkFridays: Time to become innovative

If you think Google’s “20% Time” is a great idea for encouraging innovation and creativity, check out what IBM is doing. According to Computerworld, IBM’s offices in the U.S. have instituted “ThinkFridays” as a way of stimulating out-of-the-box thinking:

“On January 1, IBM rolled out companywide “ThinkFridays,” a block of Friday

afternoon time free of nonessential meetings and interruptions.

(Workers in the U.S. also try to honor ThinkFridays overseas.) IBM

programmers, who are spread across three continents, started using

ThinkFridays a year ago to research new technologies or work on papers

or patents, says Tim Donofrio, an IBM vice president. He says it’s “a

mental break from the endless phone calls, e-mail and instant

messages,” enabling employees to get done at least some of the work

that tends to get pushed into nights or weekends.”

Sounds great – I just hope the IBM guys and girls don’t spend too much time building their Second Life communities when they should be in developing innovative new products in First Life.

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[image: IBM in Second Life]