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Two Pizza Rule for Meeting Participants

Learn how Jeff Bezos’s Two-Pizza Rule enhances meeting efficiency, decision-making, and communication by keeping teams small.

min read

Selecting the right meeting participants is crucial for success, but finding the ideal group size can be challenging. Enter the Two-Pizza Rule, a clever guideline coined by Amazon's Jeff Bezos. This rule suggests that a team should be small enough to be fed by two pizzas – typically 5-8 people. By limiting attendees to those essential for the discussion, this approach promotes effective communication and swift decision-making. It strikes a balance between including necessary perspectives and avoiding the pitfalls of overcrowded, unproductive meetings. 

Key idea behind the Two-pizza rule for meeting schedule:

  • Origin and Concept: The pizza rule, often attributed to Amazon's Jeff Bezos, stems from a simple yet powerful idea: smaller groups are more productive. It suggests limiting meeting participants to the number of people who can be fed by two pizzas, typically around 6-8 individuals. It's a practical way to keep meetings focused and efficient.
  • Everyone Gets a Seat at the Table: With fewer attendees, each person has more opportunities to contribute. It's like turning your meeting into a roundtable discussion where everyone's input is valued. This increased engagement leads to more productive and creative sessions.
  • Cutting Through the Noise Fewer participants mean fewer opinions to reconcile. You'll be surprised how quickly you can move from problem to solution when you're not trying to align a large group. It's decision-making made more efficient and effective.
  • Improving Communication: In smaller groups, communication tends to be clearer and more direct. This reduces the risk of misunderstandings and ensures that everyone is on the same page. It's like having a conversation rather than a presentation.
  • Respecting Everyone's Schedule: By involving only essential personnel, the pizza rule helps save valuable time and resources. It prevents unnecessary disruptions to employees' workdays and reduces overall meeting fatigue. Your team will appreciate the respect for their time.
  • Encouraging Preparation: Bringing Your A-Game With a limited number of attendees, there's an implicit expectation for everyone to come prepared. This leads to more productive discussions and better use of meeting time. It's about making every minute count.

The pizza rule offers a simple yet effective approach to optimizing meeting size and effectiveness. While it's important to adapt this principle to your organization's specific needs, the core idea remains valuable: keep meetings focused, engaging, and productive. By implementing a similar guideline tailored to your company culture, you can create a more dynamic meeting environment that respects everyone's time and fosters meaningful collaboration. Remember, the goal isn't just to limit numbers, but to maximize engagement and efficiency in every interaction. So, the next time you're planning a meeting, ask yourself: "Can two pizzas feed this crew?" Your future self (and your team) will thank you for it.

How Feta can help?

We understand that meetings aren’t just a time block. There are a plethora of pre-, in, and post-meeting tasks involved in driving an effective meeting. And how significant the groundwork is that starts with meeting agendas. 

That’s why we are building Feta - it helps product and engineering teams capture meeting context, automate tasks, and focus on high-impact work.

We are still in the early stages and rolling out access every day. If that sounds interesting, join the waitlist or fill out this form, and we’ll be in touch super soon.

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