Slack cofounder says workers and CEOs can get stuck doing ‘fake’ work like pre-meetings and slide shows

Some employees are guilty of coffee badging or jiggling their mouses to look active while working remotely. But even when staffers are being productive on the job, there are a few tasks that could be considered “fake” work—at least according to Slack cofounder and former CEO Stewart Butterfield.

“Here’s my grand theory: Hyper-realistic worklike activities goes along with this other concept called known valuable work to do,” Butterfield said on Lenny’s Podcast last year. “Hyper-realistic...