Elon Musk's algorithm
Reading time: 3 minutes
Love or hate the guy, you must admire Elon Musk’s ability to get stuff done.
The man juggles more balls than a circus clown - big balls.
He simultaneously runs:
the world’s most cutting-edge space exploration company,
the world’s most innovative and valuable carmaker,
the world’s most influential social media site,
a bunch of other stuff.
Oh yeah, and he has enough kids to complete a soccer team.
Musk thinks big. Silly big. Let’s create a human colony on Mars big.
But, contrary to what you may be thinking at this point, my intention is not to write an Elon Musk fanboy post. It’s to discuss his process.
(Which probably is quite fanboy-ish come to think of it).
Musk’s ability to aim for the stars is grounded in his maniacal obsession with efficiency and effectiveness. Like his approach to fatherhood, it’s go big or go home. He doesn’t operate in the realm of marginal 5-10% improvements. He demands 10-100x quantum leaps.
To do this, Musk drills into his employees a mantra known as “the algorithm”. In his biography of the billionaire, Walter Isaacson describes the “5 commandments” of the algorithm:
“Question every requirement. Each should come with the name of the person who made it. You should never accept that a requirement came from a department, such as from “the legal department” or “the safety department.” You need to know the name of the real person who made that requirement. Then you should question it, no matter how smart 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.
Delete any part or process you can. You may have to add them back later. In fact, if you do not end up adding back at least 10% of them, then you didn’t delete enough.
Simplify and optimize. This should come after step two. A common mistake is to simplify and optimize a part or a process that should not exist.
Accelerate cycle time. Every process can be speeded up. But only do this after you have followed the first three steps. In the Tesla factory, I mistakenly spent a lot of time accelerating processes that I later realized should have been deleted.
Automate. That comes last. The big mistake in Nevada and at Fremont (Tesla 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."
The crux of Musk’s algorithm is to question everything and delete ruthlessly.
It’s a useful life heuristic that can apply to much more than electric cars and rockets:
Example 1: Treat your health like a garden. Uproot the weeds (bad habits) before adding new plants (good habits). Quit smoking before you pick up running.
Example 2: The best writing tip I’ve received is to imagine getting $100 for every word you prune. Persuasive writing is short and simple. Take your first draft and slash it like an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
The moral of today’s story:
If you want to launch your own metaphorical rocket: Delete.
