The Truth About Amazon's Bizarre Two Pizza Rule
Many of us spend a lot of our time — and a lot of our money — at Amazon. It's no surprise given that you can find almost anything and everything while browsing through the massive retailer's online shop, whether you're looking for a mini waffle maker, a pair of Ugg slippers, or even a personal sauna. While you might know a lot about the customer side of Amazon (from which Prime shows are the best to how to get your groceries delivered via Amazon Fresh), you may not know as much about the business side of the e-commerce giant.
Founded by now-billionaire Jeff Bezos in 1995, Amazon has grown to nearly 1.2 million part-time and full-time employees around the world (via Insider). That doesn't even include the 7,000 dogs that Amazon says "work" at its headquarters. Yes, really! With so many people — and pups — to manage, how does Bezos make sure things are actually getting done? One of his productivity hacks involves food and is known as the two pizza rule.
The two pizza rule keeps meetings efficient
Everyone who has sat in a conference room (or on a Zoom call) for three hours only to get absolutely nothing done knows the pain that is never-ending marathon meetings. It's something that larger corporations especially struggle with, given the size of their employee base and operations. That's why Jeff Bezos implemented the two pizza rule at Amazon. According to CNBC, this rule states that no meeting at Amazon can be so large that two pizzas wouldn't be enough to feed the whole group.
How many people does that limit meetings to? Directorpoint broke it down and determined that if you're talking about medium pizzas, each meeting would be capped at six (maybe eight) people max. The idea is that smaller meetings are more effective and more productive. However, if you're tempted to apply to work at Amazon for the promise of free pizza, don't be fooled — the two pizza rule doesn't actually mean pizza is served at every meeting. Bummer.