Shopify is a Great Company!

Bloomberg: Time is money, and Shopify Inc. wants its workers to understand that maxim applies to pointless meetings, too.

The Canadian e-commerce company has rolled out a calculator embedded in employees’ calendar app that estimates the cost of any meeting with three or more people. The tool uses average compensation data across roles and disciplines, along with meeting length and attendee count, to put a price tag on the event. A typical 30 minute endeavor with three employees can run from $700 up to $1,600. Adding an executive — like Chief Operating Officer Kaz Nejatian, who built the program during a company-wide hack day — can shoot the cost above $2,000.

….The company is on pace to cut out 322,000 hours and 474,000 discrete events in 2023, according to Nejatian.

This point is especially important:

“No one at Shopify would expense a $500 dinner,” Nejatian said in an interview. “But lots and lots of people spend way more than that in meetings without ever making a decision.

Making good decisions requires taking into account all costs, including opportunity costs, and not just focusing on costs that are visibly priced. Without visible prices, however, it can be difficult to fully appreciate costs. Thus, making hidden opportunity costs visible is an excellent strategy for better decision making.

Hat tip: Joshua Gans.