Tax your meetings
Meetings are bad. The inputs are wasted mental effort pitching, arguing, and defending vague ideas. The output is a likely garbage plan. The best actions aren’t birthed in meetings, they’re suggested by data.
Small startups are nimble and can do tricks larger companies only dream of. Like writing and launching a major feature in an afternoon. Or having an all-hands product design meeting every day.
I was horrified when I realized we were doing that last one. Every day over lunch Sascha and I would have a wide-ranging discussion about Ninite and end up leaving with 3 new half ideas to maybe implement someday. My brain was slowly filling up with garbage.
Nimbleness in startups is a double-edged blade. It’s great for positive activities. However, for things that have negative externalities, make sure to impose an extra cost. Now we force ourselves to formally schedule a meeting if we want to speculate on new features or changes. Meetings are way down and lunch is fun again.
