Failure To Respond Will Be Taken As A Resignation

I don't think it's getting political to suggest half of people judged this meme posted in the week cool, the other half not so cool.

Even then, some might offer the corrections of 'just over' and 'just under' half.

In any case, I also think it uncontroversial to note that many, across all persuasions, consider the reason precipitating this meme strange. As it builds on reaction to what is ostensibly a fairly standard private sector practice.

America's new public sector 'chainsaw', one Elon Musk during quest to save trillions in what he (& his boss, who straight after shared his SpongeBob) views as wasted government expense, sent this three-line email to all 2.3m federal employees;

What did you do last week?
Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.
Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments.

Musk himself suggested this also serves as a "pulse check" (for if the email address is fraudulent). He later added, “To be clear, the bar is very low here. An email with some bullet points that make any sense at all is acceptable! Should take less than 5 mins to write.”

Those broadly supportive see it as useful way of distinguishing acceptable work from 'busywork', able to ultimately improve working conditions, workflow and outcomes as a result.

There's been many a parody email to enjoy. Along with the occasional real-world experience.

Intriguingly, it seems a whopping million recipients (43pc) did not respond. Duly then given a second chance...

There was a practice that spread throughout English business tech salesteams in the late nineties into the noughties.

At those mini weekly internal sales meetings that became such a thing - I myself for a while ran one each Wednesday over breakfast, apart from the month's last week - each assembled rep was required to submit their 'five'. Although such number was flexible. But broken down into either 'what went well', or 'what went not so well'.

I also became partly embedded shortly after in a large and fast growing client salesteam. Where a founding owner would have a rolling list of five priority items that top sales brass would be making happen over the coming week. Tracking ones crossed off, others (dis/)appearing, and ones amended.

There was a problem at the heart of such initiatives.

A la Goodhart's Law, what gets measured can change behaviour away from what's actually good for the business or individual.

In its best known form, the adage 'when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure', extends here to an eventual all-encompassing drive to ensure the 'approx 5 bullets' are written each week above all else, regardless of their veracity, relevance, or whether they help anyone at all.

And that's without unintended consequences. Like the infamous Cobra Effect.

To which I recently learned of an addition to that canon. As WW2 edged nearer its close fierce Moroccan Goumier fighters from the Atlas mountains were offered a bounty on the Italian enemy. For each ear they presented as proof of kill, they'd get paid. Yet pretty soon, more ears appeared than there were opposition forces...

There's another force at play. Namely, the school of what gets measured gets improved. Yet as anyone with knowledge of Deming's role in the incredible Japanese industrial performance over the forty years from mid-last century, systems can counter-intuitively improve most when statistical controls are rather than tightened, actually removed.

I'm almost tempted to say that, if you're running a sales effort, no matter the size, informally ask all concerned for their five.

Any trends, patterns, glaring outliers?

But as context is key, don't rush in with that. Even as a 'fun' once-off run.

Remember perhaps instead, that we have an in-built platform ready-made for featuring this thinking.

The forecast.

What's in, what's out, what's moved?

I'm sure you could be picking five highlights each week already.

Add in one(s) for personal development, hopper-filling or (my favourite) process refinement.

Just ensure they're making a difference for you.