Collaboration Tax: the struggle is real

“Collaboration Tax”… the struggle is real. And no, this is not one of those tariffs 😅

This is probably one of the least-spoken costs: the cost of bringing alignment across the board. Points to ponder:

1. Collaboration Tax is the cost one pays to bring people from multiple fronts to align on the purpose and outcome of an event or project.
2. While the outcome (or lack thereof) of misalignment is obvious, the cost of making alignment happen is often overlooked.
3. Meeting Proliferation — the effort towards alignment, continuous or otherwise — is a very real challenge that eats into one’s own individual work-block time.
4. The less time you spend in your own work-block, the further you are from the work. The further you are from the work, the more “collab-tax” you pay for alignment. It’s a vicious cycle.

How does one break this cycle?

1. No agenda → no meeting!
2. ELMO-friendly meetings (Enough, Let’s Move On). Set the expectation that ELMOs can be called out, and participants shouldn’t feel offended.
3. If there’s pre-read material, please be pre-read.
4. Adhere to W.A.I.T. — Why Am I Talking?
5. No meeting ends without “What are the next actions?”

Clearly, these are not exhaustive — just recommendations. If you have effective methods for keeping your meetings tight, I’d love to hear them.

P.S. Thanks to Radical Candor for the thought-provoking terms “Collaboration Tax” and “Meeting Proliferation”.