Founder of SpaceX and xAI; CEO of Tesla

Elon Musk

Musk's five-step engineering process — question, delete, simplify, accelerate, automate — is a blunt reminder to remove things before optimising them.

Essential reading: Starbase tour and interview with Everyday Astronaut (2021)
Models in this guide: 2

No. 002Ways of Thinking
First Principles Thinking
Break a problem down to what must be true, then rebuild the solution from there instead of copying others.
No. 009Ways of Thinking
The Algorithm: Question, Delete, Simplify, Accelerate, Automate
Make the requirements less dumb, delete what you can, and only then simplify, speed up and automate — in that order.

First Principles Thinking

The Algorithm: Question, Delete, Simplify, Accelerate, Automate