Cynthia

Independent Insurance Broker, founder and owner of Neal's Insurance Services since 1994. Commercial Insurance Specialist

[Startup Archive @StartupArchive_]

Elon Musk explains his 5-step algorithm for running companies

“First, make your requirements less dumb. Your requirements are definitely dumb… It’s particularly dangerous if a smart person gave you the requirements because you might not question them enough.”

In this interview at Starbase, Elon elaborates on his methodology for shipping everything from electric cars to rockets.

Here’s his “algorithm” quoted in full from the Walter Isaacson biography:

Question every requirement. Each should come with the name of the person who made it. You should never accept that a requirement came from a department, such as from "the legal department" or "the safety department." You need to know the name of the real person who made that requirement. Then you should question it, no matter how smart that person is. Requirements from smart people are the most dangerous, because people are less likely to question them. Always do so, even if the requirement came from me. Then make the requirements less dumb.
Delete any part or process you can. You may have to add them back later. In fact, if you do not end up adding back at least 10% of them, then you didn't delete enough.
Simplify and optimize. This should come after step two. A common mistake is to simplify and optimize a part or a process that should not exist.
Accelerate cycle time. Every process can be speeded up. But only do this after you have followed the first three steps. In the Tesla factory, I mistakenly spent a lot of time accelerating processes that I later realized should have been deleted.
Automate. That comes last. The big mistake in Nevada and at Fremont was that I began by trying to automate every step. We should have waited until all the requirements had been questioned, parts and processes deleted, and the bugs were shaken out.

Elon shares a costly example of doing this process in reverse on the Tesla Model 3 production line and optimizing a part that didn’t even need to exist.

“It’s possibly the most common error of a smart engineer to optimize a thing that should not exist. Everyone’s been trained in high school and college that you answer the question — convergent logic. You can’t tell the professor your question is dumb or you’ll get a bad grade. You have to answer the question. So everyone, without knowing, basically has this mental straight jacket on and they’ll work on optimizing the thing that should simply not exist.”

Source: @Erdayastronaut (Aug 2021)

[Mila Joy @Milajoy]

We survived this.

And now Democrats are complaining about 4% inflation.

Child, be serious.

[Proud Elephant 🇺🇸🦅 @ProudElephant]

Elon Musk is an American Hero!!! ⬇️🇺🇸

[Deon Joseph @ofcrdeonjoseph]

Gavin Newsome: Nice speech. Now where is our money?

[MAGA Voice @MAGAVoice]

He’s the most powerful man in the world… also known as Grandpa ❤️

[Sonja Shaw @realSonjaShaw]

Newsom whining about a DOJ investigation is laughable. He and Bonta weaponized government against parents, subpoenaed our emails, and tried crushing parental rights. They lost. Now he wants sympathy? If you have nothing to hide, stop panicking. California is watching.

[Cynthia @NealsInsurance]

@RobertKennedyJr Cute couple. Nice photo.

[Valerie Anne Smith @ValerieAnne1970]

“Los Angeles utility workers are making OVER $700,000 a YEAR.”

Spencer Pratt dug into LADWP payroll records — 100+ employees clearing $500K, some hitting $700K in an $11 BILLION department run by the same political insiders.

This is institutionalized fraud on taxpayers.

[Hunter Eagleman™ @Hunter_Eagleman]

Budweiser just ditched @GavinNewsom’s disaster after 50 years in California.

Another American icon says ENOUGH! 👋🏼

[Cynthia @NealsInsurance]

We can do better.

[James Woods @RealJamesWoods]

Honestly this is embarrassing.

[Denise Aguilar @InformedMama209]

California Democrats are voting to increase our cost of living.
Increase the cost of health insurance
Increase the cost for small businesses by adding a tax to apps like Canva & Adobe.
Increase our taxes to cover unlimited text plans for incarcerated people. So many people are realizing the Democrat party has left the working class. California has been a supermajority since 2018 and what have they done ? 4th largest economy? Sure .. on paper. We have the highest gas tax in the nation because of Gavin Newsom’s Democrat administration including his appointed committee CARB. His appointed members of the California Public Utilities Commission ( CPUC) have allowed PG$E to increase our rates 7 times in a year.
The current democrat candidate for California Governor Xavier Beccera has also entertained the idea to tax on mileage.
I was raised Democrat and made to believe that the party cared about working class, and now their policies are burying us. Vote different.

[Justine Bateman @JustineBateman]

As a California taxpayer, I hope the inquiry uncovers where the billions and billions and billions of dollars from fraudulent unemployment cards, trains to nowhere, partially-realized building plans, etc have gone under the watch of this governor. Whether wasted or stolen, every CA citizen deserves justice over the financial sieve that is CA governance. @DOJFraudDiv @dojphofficial @realDonaldTrump

[Cynthia @NealsInsurance]

This is how you kill business and jobs in California.

[David Tangipa @DavidTangipa]

🚨 MIDNIGHT TAX INCREASES!

In the dead of night, California legislators passed massive new taxes on insurance, digital software, and employee payroll taxes.

Don’t let anyone fool you this isn’t the federal government’s fault. The math isn’t mathing.

California just passed a $355 billion record budget with record revenue. Yet my colleagues still blame the President.

For context: The state budget was around $170 billion just 10 years ago. Now it’s more than doubled and life in California doesn’t feel any easier.

Sacramento has an insatiable appetite for your hard-earned money. If you’re not paying attention, they will keep taking more.

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

Xavier Becerra's corrupt Sacramento machine just RAISED your taxes AGAIN.

The best way to fight the Cost of Living Crisis is for government to take less of your money in the first place!

Today Steve Hilton announced his new tax plan: your first $150k tax free. @TeamSteveHilton
WATCH AND REPOST

[Monterey County Republican Party @MCGOP_CA]

Stop the grift - support the Golden Ticket.
@SteveHiltonx @GloriaJRomero @MichaelGatesESQ @Herb4Controller

[Cynthia @NealsInsurance]

This is why we decided not to attend this spectacular event. Our fear of a terror attack. Thankful for all the videos we watched from afar. Proud to be an American. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Wow, this is crazy!

[Cynthia @NealsInsurance]

Truth!!!

[Victor Davis Hanson @VDHanson]

Import poverty; romanticize illegal immigration; demonize the middle class; drive out private-sector capital; and exempt elites from the consequences of their own ideology—and you’re left with a state where democracy dies, along with everything else.

https://t.co/pRqKeQbTRX

[Cynthia @NealsInsurance]

Where is the justice? France has betrayed their own citizens.

[Thaïs d’Escufon @ThaisEscufon]

Europeans and American patriots!

Tomorrow, the courts of my country, France, may decide to send me to prison for daring to say on television that “the main danger to women in France is Black African and Arab immigrant men.”

Meanwhile, my own attacker, a Tunisian migrant, is still at large.

I need your help to generate media pressure and hope to be acquitted.

They cannot silence the truth!

Thank you for your support 💪🏻🇫🇷

[Cynthia @NealsInsurance]

🚀🚀🚀

[Congressman Brandon Gill @RepBrandonGill]

You can call me any name you want. I just want my kids to grow up in a country they recognize.