Tesla Rules

Every once I while, I read something so smart yet so stricking. I just found out that I quote it so often.

1. Avoid Large Meetings Large meetings waste valuable time and energy. They discourage debate, people are more guarded than open, and there is not enough time for everyone to contribute. Don’t schedule large meetings unless you are certain they provide value to everyone.

2. Leave A Meeting If You Are Not Contributing If a meeting doesn’t require your input, value, or decision, then your presence is useless. It’s not rude to leave a meeting, but it is rude to waste peoples time.

3. Forget The Chain of Command Communicate with colleagues directly, not through supervisors or managers. Fast communicators make fast decisions and fast decisions = competitive advantage.

4. Be Clear, Not Clever Avoid nonsense words and technical jargon. It slows down communication. Choose words that are concise, to the point, and easy to understand. Don’t try to sound smart, be efficient.

5. Ditch Frequent Meetings There is no better way to waste everyone’s time than frequent meetings. Use meetings to collaborate, attack issues head on, and to solve urgent problems. Once you resolve the issue, frequent meetings are no longer necessary. Most issues can be resolved without a meeting at all. Instead of a meeting send a text, send an email, or communicate on a discord or slack channel. Don’t interrupt your teams workflow unless it’s absolutely necessary.

6. Use Common Sense If a company rule doesn’t make sense, contribute to progress or apply to your specific situation then avoid that rule all together.

In general; don’t follow rules, follow principals.