From Lucy Kellaway in the FT, a rule that I'm going to apply at more startups:

[Imagine] you are sitting next to a stranger at a dinner party and you have to describe your job in one sentence that they can understand. If you fail this test, you are either a nuclear physicist or your job shouldn't exist.

In fact, every manager should get each member of their team to do this. My guess is that great misunderstandings will be uncovered, and great savings made. If any member of your team can't tell you simply what their job is you should fire them, move them, or give them something proper to do. If none of them knows what their job is, then you should fire yourself.

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