Axios’s Simplify framework focuses employees on high-value work

Axios’s productivity framework, described in the book *Simplify: How to Do 50% More with 50% Less*, is presented as a company-wide operating system. It aims to keep employees focused on work they are good at and should do, while eliminating or offloading other tasks, including to AI.

The reported internal results at Axios were 70% higher revenue per employee and happier employees. The framework is intended for executives, entrepreneurs and rank-and-file employees, not only senior management.

It asks employees to identify three activities essential to excelling at their jobs, three they consider unnecessary, and three that could be automated or offloaded to AI. The framework’s advocate suggests that companies without a lean system of this kind may struggle to thrive over the next five to ten years as AI accelerates the pace of change.