Follow Jeff Bezos’ Rule of Two Pizzas for More Productive Meetings
A party without a cake is just a meeting, and a meeting without a free pizza is not fun at all. This is why I was thrilled to hear that Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has a “two pizza rule” for holding meetings.
Unfortunately, the rule is not that there should be two pizzas, but that Bezos will not (or even go) a meeting if two pizzas cannot feed the entire group. It’s unclear exactly how many people Bezos thinks can feed two pizzas, but it’s a good way to keep the number of participants close to a reasonable one and make things a little more productive.
Is it also unclear? Bezos actually brings two pizzas to the meeting. I hope he does it – we know he can afford it – and it seems cruel – talking about pizza and not delivering it.
Update: This also seems to be Bezos’ favorite advice for organizing, as it is repeated over and over without having much impact. (We looked at this twice and then forgot.) Everyone seems to like the pizza rule, but not everyone remembers it. Have you ever applied this two-pizza rule? Have your meetings improved for the better?
Jeff Bezos “The Rule of Two Pizzas” – His Secret to Successful Meetings | Food and wine