Jeff Bezos's bizarre 'two pizza' Amazon rule explained

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos uses a strange two pizza rule to ensure that staff always stay productive, but how does it work?

Bezos famously started the multi-trillion dollar company Amazon in his garage and over the years he has opened up about factors like how much sleep he gets and the books he reads, which have contributed to his success.

When it comes to his own workforce, Bezos operates a strict two pizza policy, which dictates that teams within Amazon should be able to be fed with two pizzas – if they can’t, the team is too big. It is thought teams are no bigger than 10 individuals.

As such a huge company, efficiency is key to the smooth running of the business, and it is this that Bezos has in mind.

The bizarre two pizza rule comes down to productivity and efficiency levels, and is particularly implemented across Amazon’s Web Services.

Its logic is that smaller teams are likely to work more effectively because they have a clearer focus on what their individual roles and tasks are, due to having more one on one daily contact than a large team would be able to manage.

This means that they will waste less time in meetings and individuals will be more likely to rely on themselves, rather than their teammates, increasing individual productivity rates.

If teams become too large that they require more than two pizzas to feed, Amazon will create a new team to ensure that they remain focussed on that specific objective.

No wonder Amazon is now worth over $2 trillion...

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