イーロン・マスクの５ステップのエンジニアリング哲学（SpaceX 2021）

イーロン・マスクの５ステップのエンジニアリング哲学（SpaceX 2021）

March 9, 2026

日本語で要約

エンジニアリングは次の５ステップで行うべきである。

  1. 要件を疑う：与えられた要件は常に疑う。誰が決めたものであっても誤りの可能性がある。「全ての設計は間違っている。問題はどれだけ間違っているかだけだ。」
  2. 要素を徹底的に削除すること：部品や工程はできるだけ削る。削ったものの一部（約10%）が後から必要なことがわかって戻すくらいでちょうどいい。
  3. 最適化を急がないこと：最適化を急がない。まずはステップ２でムダを削って、その後に最適化する。賢いエンジニアが犯しやすいミスは、不要なものを最適化してしまうこと。
  4. サイクルタイムを速くすること：このステップまできたら改善サイクルや開発スピードを上げる。
  5. 自動化すること：問題を解決したら自動化する。品質が安定していれば途中工程での検査は減らす。

Musk’s Engineering Philosophy:

Musk overviewed his five step engineering process, which must be completed in order:

  1. Make the requirements less dumb. The requirements are definitely dumb; it does not matter who gave them to you. He notes that it’s particularly dangerous if an intelligent person gives you the requirements, as you may not question the requirements enough. “Everyone’s wrong. No matter who you are, everyone is wrong some of the time.” He further notes that “all designs are wrong, it’s just a matter of how wrong.”
  2. Try very hard to delete the part or process. If parts are not being added back into the design at least 10% of the time, not enough parts are being deleted. Musk noted that the bias tends to be very strongly toward “let’s add this part or process step in case we need it.” Additionally, each required part and process must come from a name, not a department, as a department cannot be asked why a requirement exists, but a person can.
  3. Simplify and optimize the design. This is step three as the most common error of a smart engineer is to optimize something that should not exist.
  4. Accelerate cycle time. Musk states “you’re moving too slowly, go faster! But don’t go faster until you’ve worked on the other three things first.”
  5. Automate. An important part of this is to remove in-process testing after the problems have been diagnosed; if a product is reaching the end of a production line with a high acceptance rate, there is no need for in-process testing.

Additionally, Musk restated that he believes everyone should be a chief engineer. Engineers need to understand the system at a high level to understand when they are making a bad optimization.

https://everydayastronaut.com/starbase-tour-and-interview-with-elon-musk/

上記記事のもとになっている動画がこちらです。

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