source: https://evannex.com/blogs/news/elon-musk-reveals-his-5-step-protocol-for-engineering

1. Make The Requirements Less Dumb

• “Step one: Make the requirements less dumb. The requirements are definitely dumb; it does not matter who gave them to you. It’s particularly dangerous when they come from an intelligent person, as you may not question them enough. Everyone’s wrong. No matter who you are, everyone is wrong some of the time. All designs are wrong, it’s just a matter of how wrong,” explains Musk.

2. Try And Delete Part Of The Process

• “Step two: try very hard to delete the part or process. If parts are not being added back into the design at least 10% of the time, [it means that] not enough parts are being deleted. The bias tends to be very strongly toward ‘let’s add this part or process step in case we need it’. Additionally, each required part and process must come from a name, not a department, as a department cannot be asked why a requirement exists, but a person can,” says Musk.

3. Simplify Or Optimize

• “Step three: simplify and optimize the design. This is the most common error of a smart engineer — to optimize something that should simply not exist,” according to Musk. He, himself, has been a victim of implementing these steps out of order. He refers to a “mental straightjacket” that happens in traditional schools where you always have to answer the question regardless of whether the premise makes any sense at all.

4. Accelerate Cycle Time

• “Step four: accelerate cycle time. You’re moving too slowly, go faster! But don’t go faster until you’ve worked on the other three things first,” explains Musk. Here he uses another example of how these steps should occur in order. During a wrongheaded process you should simply stop, not accelerate. He says, “If you’re digging your grave, don’t dig it faster.”

5. Automate

• “The final step is: automate. An important part of this is to remove in-process testing after the problems have been diagnosed; if a product is reaching the end of a production line with a high acceptance rate, there is no need for in-process testing. I have personally made the mistake of going backwards on all five steps multiple times. In making Tesla’s Model 3, I literally automated, accelerated, simplified and then deleted,” says Musk.

My interpretation

1. ALIGNMENT: Assume all designs are wrong and go back to the basics to ensure that the employee’s requirements are aligned with the goal
2. ACCOUNTABILITY: Question requirements and process by making someone accountable and continuously monitoring with them why certain results happen
3. OPTIMIZATION: Reduce the process-bloat and avoid following standard procedures just because it’s the de facto standard
4. ACCELERATION: After the steps above are stable, accelerate until something else breaks in order to reveals problems faster
5. AUTOMATION: Use automation as soon as there are less errors in order to prevent additional human error