Elon Musk's 5 step engineering process

1. Make requirements less dumb — particularly if a smart person gave it to you (and get a name of the person, not a department/team, who is enforcing the constraint)

2. Delete the part or process — you can make an “just in case” argument for anything (if you’re not adding back steps then you’re not deleting enough)

3. Simplify or optimize - do not optimize a thing that should not exist (one of the most regular mistakes smart motivated people make)

4. Accelerate cycle time - move faster (to catch more problems, generally get more done)

5. Automate - make technology and/or machines to do the work (this is the final, not first step)

Elon Musk

Fun chat with @levelsio on his new project. I found myself basically repeating @elonmusk’s 5-step engineering process, which we reference often on the @atlas team.