The Story Behind Google's Cardboard Project

For those who think 20% time at Google is dead, note that Project Cardboard started as two Googlers' 20% time project, who then recruited a lot of other 20%ers.

That's probably the most important thing that people might not realize is that the highly impactful 20% projects involve a large number of Googlers contributing their 20% time in order to make something that they consider really, really cool. So if you have a great idea, doing enough so that you can then demo it to other people and get them excited to contribute is an important key to success.

It's not a matter of a single person working all by their lonesome on their 20% project --- that's certainly a myth. But so is the idea that 20% time is dead. It most certainly is not, although like many things, having good people skills is really important. It's not just a matter of cranking out a lot of code.