Jorgenson: Elon Musk's five-step engineering algorithm must be followed in strict order
Eric Jorgenson · How Elon Musk Solves Problems | Eric Jorgenson · Jun 17, 2026 · at 1:01:37
Author Eric Jorgenson discusses the operating and engineering principles developed by Elon Musk at Tesla and SpaceX with host Codie Sanchez.
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“The algorithm is five steps, and the order is very important. So the first step is to question every requirement. He says, no matter how many requirements there are, question them, eliminate as many as you can. Every existing requirement must have an individual human being's name attached to it. The more requirements you can get rid of, the less weird Unnecessary compromises you're going to make the bigger your like design space is for potential solutions. He says requirements from smart people are particularly dangerous because you take them more seriously. The second step is delete. Try very hard to delete the part or the process step. The third is simplify or optimize. The fourth is accelerate cycle time. So move faster. And the fifth is automate the fifth.”
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