Elon Musk's Candid Productivity Tips for Tesla Employees

Rosemina Nazarali -

Elon Musk recently sent out a memo to employees with a list of productivity tips, a few being pretty ruthless. His goal is to produce 6,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of June. He's also been known to sleep at the Tesla factor to ensure there is high productivity while producing the new electric car. With his goal in mind, these tips might just be what Tesla employees need to make it happen.

Here's what Musk's productivity rules look like:

Meetings

Walk out of meetings if you aren't contributing.

"Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren't adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time."

Get rid of big meetings.

"Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get [out] of all large meetings, unless you're certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short."

Remove frequent meetings.

"Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get [out] of all large meetings, unless you're certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short."

Communication

Stop using jargon.

"Don't use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software or processes at Tesla. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We don't want people to have to memorize a glossary just to function at Tesla."

Communicate with people directly.

"Communication should travel via the shortest path necessary to get the job done, not through the 'chain of command'. Any manager who attempts to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves working elsewhere.

Use Common Sense

"In general, always pick common sense as your guide. If following a 'company rule' is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation, such that it would make for a great Dilbert cartoon, then the rule should change."

You can read Musk's full memo here.