- Question all requirements: (People tend to just follow someone’s requirements to get things done quickly) and are less likely to question the requirements of smart people. But this is a very dangerous thing to do. So question no matter how smart he is. Always question my (=Elon Musk) requirements as well. After that, make the requirements less stupid.
- Remove parts, processes, as much as possible: of course you may have to add it later (after removing it first). In fact, if you don’t add more than 10% (after removing everything you can remove first), that means you haven’t removed enough.
- Simplify and optimize: Simplifying and optimizing is a task that must be done after the first two steps. Common mistakes are simplifying and optimizing parts or processes that shouldn’t exist. (They just have to be removed.)
- Slow down: Any process can be accelerated. However, this must also be done after the first three steps have been taken. One of the mistakes I made at the Tesla factory was that I spent a lot of time accelerating a process that should have been eliminated in the first place.
- Automate: Automate is the last thing you need to do. The biggest mistake I made at the Tesla factory was, from the beginning, trying to automate every step of the way. I should have done it after questioning all the requirements, removing (unnecessary) parts and processes, and waiting for a solution to the bug to come out.
And this algorithm comes with some side points, which are as follows.
- All technical managers must have hands-on experience. For example, software team managers must devote at least 20% of their work time to coding, and solar roof managers must climb the roof for at least a certain amount of time to install. Otherwise, you’ll be like a cavalry leader who can’t ride a horse or a general who can’t use a knife.
- It is dangerous. This is because it makes it difficult for each other to object to each other’s business. This is something you should be wary of and avoid.
- It’s okay to be wrong, but you shouldn’t argue that what’s wrong is right.
- Don’t ask a team member to do something you don’t want to do.
- When hiring staff, you need to find the right person with the right attitude. Skills can be taught, but you need to change your brain to change your attitude.
- The only rule (that we have to abide by) is by the laws of physics. Everything else, it’s just recommendations (not truth).
- Walter Isaacson, in “Elon Musk”