#38: 3 Takeaways from Elon's Starship Interview
Questions, optimizations, and decision making
On June 6, 2024, SpaceX launched Starship (which has over 2x more thrust than the Saturn V) for the fourth time. Tim Dodd, known as the Everyday Astronaut, had the chance to tour the Starship factory with Elon prior to the launch and also conduct a short interview post-launch. These interviews give us incredible insight into the thinking of one of the most effective entrepreneurs on the planet. Here are my top 3 takeaways from the interview.
#1: Express Priorities as Questions
At three different points in the 1-hour factory tour, Elon explains that when it comes to Starship, SpaceX is focused on answering questions. All three times, he emphasizes that the "single biggest [question] is 'What does it take to get through the high heating of reentry?"
Video clip here (sorry Substack doesn’t play nicely with YouTube clips)
This stuck out to me because I have never listed my priorities in the form of a question that needed to be answered. I have historically listed my priorities as statements. Listing priorities as questions is something I will explore.
#2: Optimization comes later
Several times throughout the interview, Tim asks Elon about potential engineering ideas that would optimize systems that already successfully performed their function, or SpaceX knew a solution for. Each time, Elon refocuses the conversation back to the primary question SpaceX is trying to solve.
"There's more than one way to skin a cat, this is just a cat getting skinned. It's not to say that there is not a better way to do it. There are. The first order of business is to get one way at all that works."
There are a million things that could be done that have some measure of effectiveness on a project's success. But the prioritization of those things determines the velocity of the project or your organization. Elon is ruthless about ensuring that his team doesn't waste time on less effective items, constantly stating his team's #1 priority and refocusing on that.
#3: Few Imperial Decrees
It is not typical for a company's figurehead to be an engineer such as Elon. During the post-launch interview, Elon briefly touches on the engineering team's decision-making process at SpaceX. Elon explains that he rarely ever lays down "imperial decrees" that the team needs to follow. The standard is that the engineering team meets, and progress moves in the direction of the consensus.
Creating a culture where the members of the engineering team are empowered to diverge in thought from one of the richest and most powerful men in the world is not easy. While many do succeed in building this culture, history is also littered with people and companies who could not.