Today I am excited to share a proven framework for completely destroying productivity while looking extremely busy. This system works in every industry and scales beautifully with headcount.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Internal meetings
Schedule as many recurring meetings as humanly possible. Daily is good. Multiple per day is better.
Rules to follow:
- No clear agenda
- Same topics every week
- Zero decisions made
- No action items
- Invite people who have absolutely nothing to do with the subject
If someone asks why they are invited, say “just wanted to get your thoughts” and move on.
Step 2: Daily one on ones
Have a one on one with every team member every single day.
In these meetings:
- Ask them to walk you through work they already explained
- Ask questions you could answer by reading one message
- Encourage long explanations of things you already approved
If you catch yourself thinking “this could have been an email,” you are doing it correctly.
Step 3: Busy work
Assign nonstop busy work at all times.
Best practices:
- Create urgency even when nothing is urgent
- Make sure the work does not meaningfully affect outcomes
- Ensure it pulls people away from their actual jobs
When they finish:
- Assign more busy work
- Or tell them to redo it because “we need to rethink the approach”
If they ask what changed, say “alignment” and end the conversation.
That’s it. Follow these three steps and you will successfully convert a capable team into a meeting-attending, task-refreshing machine with no time to think.
Thanks everyone. Notes will not be shared.