20% There, 20% Here?

Just a quickie: Joe Beda has a post about

Google's 20% benefit.

There have been plenty of times I've gazed through the window trying to
figure out how this kind of thing could work for Microsoft because I really,
really want all these smart people at Microsoft to unleash disruptive
innovation. Seeing Joe's context-setting of how it works for Google makes me
realize that it would be really, really hard to get this to work at One
Microsoft Way.

There are people who serve as jealous guardians to some parts of the
source code for their team's product. Woe unto you should you go and
randomly check something in, even if it's not breaking anything. They might
as well fly into your room in a swirling fit of red robes - " color="#FF0000">Dost thou knowest what great sin thou hath wrought upon the
repository!?! "

It's weird. And the longer you're in the group, the more you naturally
accede to these self-appointed feature-priests until the offerings and
deference just become business as usual. Whew, some groups really need some
heavy people rotation, if only to free the source code from their
oversight.