Elon Musk
Elon Musk
Lessons learned
Question every requirement, delete any part or process you can, simplify, speed up the cycle, then automate. In that order. Most people automate first and lock in the waste.
Every rule came from a person, and that person can be wrong. "The department said so" is never a good enough answer.
If you don't have to add back at least ten percent of what you removed, you didn't remove enough. I use this on processes in my gyms.
Isaacson is honest about the wreckage: people burned out, relationships broken. The book is a case study in what intensity buys and what it bills you for.
Reason from what's physically true, not from what's conventionally done. That's how a car company and a rocket company both got cheaper.
Who should read it
Anyone building something hard. Read it for the methods, and keep your own judgment about the man.
