The video discusses a five-step process for optimizing or improving a part or process. The core idea is to prioritize deletion and simplification before focusing on speed and automation. The steps are presented in a specific order: 

1.  **Make a requirements list:** Understand what is needed.
2.  **Delete the part or process step:** Aim to eliminate unnecessary components or actions. The speaker emphasizes that if you're not deleting at least 10% of the time, you're not deleting enough. This is presented as a crucial step.
3.  **Simplify or optimize:** Improve the remaining parts or processes. The speaker warns against optimizing something that shouldn't exist in the first place, highlighting this as a common mistake among engineers.
4.  **Accelerate cycle time:** Increase the speed of the process, but only after the first three steps have been addressed.
5.  **Automate:** Implement automation as the final step.

The speaker also shares a personal anecdote about making the mistake of reversing this order, going backward through the steps by automating, accelerating, simplifying, and then deleting, which implies a less effective approach.

Startup Bell

Anyway, so step one, make a requirements list down.

Step two, delete the part or process step. If you're not adding If you're not deleting a part or process step at least 10% of the time, it basically If you're not adding things back in 10% of the time, you're clearly not deleting enough.

And then only the the third step is simplify or optimize. The third step. Not the first step. The reason it's the first step is cuz it's it's very common It's possibly the most common error of a smart engineer is to optimize the thing that should not exist. Right. Okay.

And then finally, you get to step four, which is accelerate cycle time. You're moving too slowly, go faster. But don't go faster until you have worked on the other three things first.

And then the final step is automate. And now I have personally made the mistake of going backwards on all five steps. Multiple times. I automated, accelerated, simplified, and then deleted.

Elon Musk’s 5 Principles To Build A Business

Anyway, so step one,
make a requirements list down. Step two,
delete the part or process step. If
you're not adding If you're not deleting
a part or process step at least 10% of
the time, it basically If you're not
adding things back in 10% of the time,
you're clearly not deleting enough. And
then
only the the third step is simplify or
optimize. The third step.
Not the first step. The reason it's the
first step is cuz it's it's very common
It's possibly the most common error of a
smart engineer is to optimize the thing
that should not exist.
Right. Okay. And then finally, you get
to step four, which is accelerate cycle
time.
You're moving too slowly, go faster.
But don't go faster until you have
worked on the other three things first.
And then the final step is automate. And
now I have personally made the mistake
of going backwards on all five steps.
Multiple times. I automated,
accelerated,
simplified, and then deleted.

Get Our Mobile App

Elon Musk’s 5 Principles To Build A Business

Transcription