Elon Musk asks himself 6 questions before every major decision at Tesla and SpaceX

pulse

November 15, 2017 9:17 PM

Elon Musk uses a six-question scientific method anytime he needs to come up with an idea, solve a problem, or decide whether to start a business.

Elon Musk asks himself the same six questions before making any big decision.
He uses the process as his own version of the scientific method.

The inventor and engineer Elon Musk has successfully started four billion-dollar companies: PayPal, Solar City, SpaceX, and Tesla. And to launch them — and to answer any complex question — he uses the same approach, he told Neil Strauss of Rolling Stone.

It's "the scientific method," Musk said. "It's really helpful for figuring out the tricky things."

He describes his process this way, according to Strauss:

Musk uses these six questions anytime he needs to come up with an idea, solve a problem, or decide whether to start a business. He values this kind of evidence-based decision-making, and he criticized people who can't separate fact from feeling.

Most people employ "It's true because I said it's true," he told Strauss. "It's very unscientific."

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also has a set framework for decision-making. In a 2016 shareholder letter, he distinguished between Type 1 and Type 2 decisions.

Type 1 decisions are "are consequential and irreversible or nearly irreversible — one-way doors — and these decisions must be made methodically," Bezos wrote.

Type 2 decisions are "changeable, reversible — they're two-way doors," and they "can and should be made quickly by high judgment individuals or small groups."

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