Names and internal program details are redacted for confidentiality. The writing is otherwise unchanged.

Dear xxxxxxxx,

It is hard to believe we are already at the end of Summer and four months of Fridays off. I hope you were all able to take advantage of the shorter weeks to recharge and relax. Now that we are back to a full work week and entering a particularly busy time of year, I want to share some thoughts I have on creating and maintaining productive teams.

Cutting Crap

Keep a close eye on your teams for areas that seem outdated or inefficient. The xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx program is now open all year, so encourage your teams to submit quality ideas. Ideas that might not qualify for a reward due to scale or significance are still worth exploring to help us meet our own goals faster.

Look at your current list of projects for any that are not driving us towards meeting a critical need and consider dropping it or putting it “on ice”.

Smart Meetings

xxxx recently shared his thoughts on meeting etiquette. I think this is a critical area for Moving Fast. Do not confuse being in meetings with being productive, ensure every meeting has a clear objective and agenda, and double check your attendee list to ensure everyone in the meeting is necessary to meet its goal.

Make the most of having Fridays back by encouraging your teams to use them as productivity days. Limit meetings scheduled on Fridays to what is critical and encourage your teams to block their time to get things done.

Team Development

Encourage your team to block one hour a week (perhaps on Fridays!) to devote to learning and development. Work with them to match their own career aspirations with the skills we see necessary in the changing business environment, like Linux and Angular.

I look forward to the extra boost in productivity and welcome any additional ideas on how to keep us Working Hard and Moving Fast.

Work Hard! Play Hard! Move Fast!

xxxxxxxxxx