Elon Musk’s leaked email. His 6 rules for insane productivity: (Used at Tesla, Space X & now Twitter)

Elon Musk’s 6 rules for insane productivity:

1) Avoid large meetings
2) Leave a meeting if you’re not contributing
3) Forget the chain of command
4) Be clear, not clever
5) Ditch frequent meetings
6) Use common sense

1) Avoid large meetings Large meetings waste valuable time and energy. – They discourage debate – People are more guarded than open – There’s not enough time for everyone to contribute Don’t schedule large meetings unless you’re certain they provide value to everyone.

2) Leave a meeting if you’re not contributing If a meeting doesn’t require your: – Input – Value – Decisions Your presence is useless. It’s not rude to leave a meeting. But it’s rude to waste people’s time.

3) Forget the chain of command Communicate with colleagues directly. Not through supervisors or managers. Fast communicators make fast decisions. 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 – Easy to understand Don’t sound smart. Be efficient.

5) Ditch frequent meetings

There’s no better way to waste everyone’s time.

Use meetings to:

– Collaborate
– Attack issues head-on
– Solve urgent problems

But once you resolve the issue, frequent meetings are no longer necessary.

You can resolve most issues without a meeting.

Instead of meetings:

– Send a text
– Send an email
– Communicate on a discord or slack channel

Don’t interrupt your team’s workflow if it’s unnecessary.

6) Use common sense

If a company rule doesn’t:

– Make sense
– Contribute to progress
– Apply to your specific situation

Avoid following the rule with your eyes closed.

Don’t follow rules. Follow principles.


This was verbatim taken from Liam Kircher’s Twitter post, I think it is helpful to read but reading it on Twitter is annoying and not for everyone, so props to Liam, I hope you don’t mind.

https://twitter.com/LiamKircher/status/1592866981145104385