Self Note: The Elon Musk Algorithm

30 Dec, 2024

The Elon Musk Algorithm

At any given production meeting, whether at Tesla or SpaceX, there is a nontrivial chance that Musk will intone, like a mantra, what he calls “The Algorithm.” It was shaped by the lessons he learned during the production hell surges at the Nevada and Fremont factories. His executives sometimes move their lips and mouth the words, like they would chant the liturgy along with their priest.

"I became a broken record on the algorithm," Musk says. "But I think it’s helpful to say it to an annoying degree."

It had five commandments:

1. Question Every Requirement

• Each should come with the name of the person who made it.
• Never accept that a requirement came from a department, such as “the legal department” or “the safety department.”
• You need to know the real person who made that requirement.
• Always 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 Musk.
• Goal: Make the requirements less dumb.

2. Delete Any Part or Process You Can

• Remove parts or processes when possible.
• Be ready to add back at least 10% of them later.
• Rule of Thumb: If you didn’t end up adding back at least 10%, you didn’t delete enough.

3. Simplify and Optimize

• Simplify and optimize only after step two.
• A common mistake is to simplify or optimize a part or process that shouldn’t exist.

4. Accelerate Cycle Time

• Speed up every process, but only after the first three steps.
• Musk's mistake: Spending time accelerating processes that should have been deleted.

5. Automate

• Automation comes last.
• Avoid automating until:
  • All requirements have been questioned.
  • Parts and processes have been deleted.
  • Bugs have been fixed.

Corollaries

• Hands-On Management:

  • All technical managers must have hands-on experience.
  • Software team managers must spend 20% of their time coding.
  • Solar roof managers must spend time on the roofs doing installations.
  • Analogy: Otherwise, they are like cavalry leaders who can’t ride a horse.

• Challenge Work:

  • Comradery is dangerous.
    • It makes it hard for people to challenge each other’s work.
    • Avoid the tendency to not want to “throw a colleague under the bus.”

• It’s OK to Be Wrong:

  • Just don’t be confident and wrong.

• Lead by Example:

  • Never ask your team to do something you’re not willing to do yourself.

• Skip-Level Problem Solving:

  • Don’t just meet with your managers.
  • Do a skip-level meeting to talk with the level below your managers.

• Hiring Philosophy:

  • Hire for attitude, not just skills.
  • Why: Skills can be taught; attitude changes require a brain transplant.

• Maniacal Urgency:

  • Operate with a maniacal sense of urgency as a core principle.

• Physics First:

  • The only rules are those dictated by the laws of physics.
  • Everything else is a recommendation.