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Elon Musk's thoughts on team productivity at work
Arjun Rajkumar
October 11, 2024
These are taken from an email sent by Elon Musk to his Tesla staff.
1. Avoid large meetings
His reasons for this is that large meetings waste valuable time and energy, and discourages debate. People are also more guarded, and there is not enough time for everyone to contribute.
I personally agree with this. Large meetings are a waste of time unless you have a really good facilitator to host the meeting, and even then it should be done maybe a couple of times a year. People tend to be more quiet, there are less questions from the audience, and it is harder for introverts. So, ideally keep meetings short and only include people that really need to be at the meeting.
2. Leave a meeting, if you are not contributing
1. Avoid large meetings
His reasons for this is that large meetings waste valuable time and energy, and discourages debate. People are also more guarded, and there is not enough time for everyone to contribute.
I personally agree with this. Large meetings are a waste of time unless you have a really good facilitator to host the meeting, and even then it should be done maybe a couple of times a year. People tend to be more quiet, there are less questions from the audience, and it is harder for introverts. So, ideally keep meetings short and only include people that really need to be at the meeting.
2. Leave a meeting, if you are not contributing
This plays nicely with the first point of having shorter, smaller meetings. If you are at a meeting, and you are not getting anything out of it, it would be better to eae the meeting and focus at getting work done.
3. Forget the chain of command and communicate with colleagues directly.
He says to not go through managers and supervisors, and instead to communicate directly. His reasoning is that fast decisions result in a competitive advantage.
4. Be clear, not clever
This is more about not using acronyms unless they are really well known. Don't use buzzwords. His reasoning is that nonsense words and technical jargon slows down communication. Don't sound smart, be efficient.
5. Ditch frequent meetings
He says there is no better way to waste everyone’s time than to have frequent meetings. Use meetings only to collaborate, attack issues head-on, and to solve urgent problems. But once you resolve the issue, frequent meetings are no longer necessary.
He also says that you can resolve most issues without a meeting. Instead of meetings, you can send a text, or send an email, or communicate on discord or a slack channel. The idea is that you don’t interrupt your team’s workflow if it’s unnecessary.
Things like daily standups, status updates are meetings that could be done asynchronously. Most recurring meetings can be done more efficiently.
6. Use common sense
3. Forget the chain of command and communicate with colleagues directly.
He says to not go through managers and supervisors, and instead to communicate directly. His reasoning is that fast decisions result in a competitive advantage.
4. Be clear, not clever
This is more about not using acronyms unless they are really well known. Don't use buzzwords. His reasoning is that nonsense words and technical jargon slows down communication. Don't sound smart, be efficient.
5. Ditch frequent meetings
He says there is no better way to waste everyone’s time than to have frequent meetings. Use meetings only to collaborate, attack issues head-on, and to solve urgent problems. But once you resolve the issue, frequent meetings are no longer necessary.
He also says that you can resolve most issues without a meeting. Instead of meetings, you can send a text, or send an email, or communicate on discord or a slack channel. The idea is that you don’t interrupt your team’s workflow if it’s unnecessary.
Things like daily standups, status updates are meetings that could be done asynchronously. Most recurring meetings can be done more efficiently.
6. Use common sense
He says that if a company rule doesn’t make sense, or contribute to progress, ignore it. Avoid following the rule with your eyes closed. And, instead of following rules, follow principles.
Elon Musk is a master of scale, and he knows how to grow a business rapidly. These writings of his were taken from an email he sent himself to Tesla shareholders.
Elon Musk is a master of scale, and he knows how to grow a business rapidly. These writings of his were taken from an email he sent himself to Tesla shareholders.