Elon Musk "Algorithm" for Engineering & Operations

I know that I can drive people crazy with my constant asking "why?" - this, historically, has been especially true with the compliance team, but I also tend to get under the skin of our UX, financial operations and legal teams too as I push them to simplify things, create product & operational clarity, and refine processes.

Reading Elon Musk's biography this week reminded me of his "Algorithm" and how he used that at PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, etc. It's...

1. Question every requirement Before changing anything in your processes, the first step is to create clarity about every requirement that (already) exists. "You should never accept that a requirement came from a department, such as from 'the legal department' or 'the safety department', (know the specific person who created it and why) - Once that clarity is achieved—that is, when every requirement has the person's name attached—then you can start questioning whether these requirements make sense. No matter how smart or how 'powerful' that person is. Requirements from smart people are the most dangerous because people are less likely to question them. Always do so, even if the requirement came from me. Then make the requirements less dumb."

2. Delete any part of the process you can The second step is subtraction—a (seriously) undervalued habit in management. In this case, it is all about deleting any part of the process you can (in order to simplify and streamline the systems).

3. Simplify and optimize Only when you have walked through steps 1 & 2 can you start simplifying and optimizing your processes. This protects you from doing unnecessary work. "A common mistake is to simplify a part or a process that should not (have even existed in the first place)." Delete the unnecessary process, don't waste time optimizing it.

4. Accelerate cycle time The fourth step is finding ways to speed up your bureaucratic processes. "Every process can be speeded up," says Musk. "In the Tesla factory, I mistakenly (wasted) a lot of time accelerating processes that I later realized should have been deleted."

5. Automate "[Automate] comes last. The big mistake in [my factories] was that I began by trying to automate every step. We should have waited until all the requirements had been questioned, parts and processes deleted, and the bugs were shaken out."

Great stuff to keep in mind as we build the company. I would add 1 more...

6. Move fast, break things and iterate We cannot fear moving fast. We will make mistakes, and that's okay. Both as we start, and even when we become a more mature company. There are no sacred cows, even if edicts from me. We need to not be "stupid" (a favorite Musk-ism), and we need to be "hardcore", take risks, launch quickly and iterate & improve as we accelerate.

Cheers,

Scott