Cranking on an entire new internet consumption model can be exhausting. Dogfooding new projects can be time consuming and sometimes frustrating -- even at Facebook.
Pair that with a fat pre-IPO portfolio and the circumstances for burnout, turnover and greener-grass employee wanderings are bound to happen. Some Facebookers are deciding to fluorish elsewhere as more middle management is layered into the Palo Alto-based company, writes Silicon Alley Insider.
To stem the exodus, Facebook has implemented Hackamonth to curb the desire to split, according to Business Insider. Hackamonth allows workers to switch over to another project within the company, keeping them energized. And if the someone is really into the new project, they can stay on it.
Google has a similar program, called "20 Percent Time." The Time "enables engineers to spend one day a week working on projects that aren't necessarily in [their] job descriptions," according to their official blog.
Things like Gmail, Labs and Reader came about through 20 Percent Time work.
Instead of one day a week, though, Facebook's offering a month of concentrated work on what was once an employee's side project.
Two FB projects that became products are the mobile web site and Facebook Deals. A month is seemingly enough time to get something very right, indeed.
