I see why they do this, but man it almost feels like asking your boss for approval on where you go on vacation. Do people get dinged if their 20% time project doesn't pan out, or they lose interest later on?
Previously it could be anything you wanted. These days, you need formal approval. Google has changed a bit.
It has nothing to do with success. It's entirely for making sure some one besides the person doing the 20% agrees with the idea behind the project.
Lol. They’d be better off giving people the option to work 4 days if they also signed over right of first refusal for hobby projects.