Yogi Berra: The myth* I really didn’t say everything I said. Yogi Berra Yogi Berra was a Red Sox player who pitched a dozen no-hitters, was married to Marilyn Monroe and discovered penicillin. His bust appears on the other side of Mount Rushmore. He had a knack for memorable phrases that are just as relevant…
SCAMPER is a proven idea generating technique. In this video, I am going to examine ways we can apply SCAMPER to come up with the kinds of innovation we see at SpaceX.
SCAMPER In my last post I wrote about SCAMPER, a proven idea generating technique. In this post, I am going to examine ways we can apply SCAMPER to come up with the kinds of innovation we see at SpaceX. S is for SUBSTITUTE Substitute: Why send a brick when you can send a car? Test…
What matters is the pace of innovation “I think moats are lame. They are like nice in a sort of quaint, vestigial way. If your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you will not last long. What matters is the pace of innovation, that is the fundamental determinant of competitiveness.” Elon Musk –…
Proven reusability “For a long time people were using the space shuttle as an example of why reusability is dumb. You can’t take a single case example and make an entire theory out of it.” Elon Musk Musk has frequently made the case that discarding a rocket is like flying a jumbo jet across the…
Big appetite As your team’s innovation abilities develop, your appetite for risk will likely increase, but the total amount of risk being undertaken needs to be understood at all times. Carefully chosen innovations will provide average returns to the upside. It’s like gambling, but in this case you are the house. They say the house…
Delegation is not abdication A common refrain in innovation literature is that failure should be expected, celebrated and even rewarded. How, then, can good work be distinguished from bad? How can team members making strong contributions be identified Delegation is not abdication. Set limits on the consequences of experimentation that those on your team can…
Segmentation When gravity is absent and the fuel doesn’t naturally stay at the bottom of the bank, other schemes must be used to keep the propellant adjacent to the pickup. I’ve previously examined this issue here and here. What I love about this blog is it kindles my curiosity. I was inspired to look again…
There’s a starman waiting in the sky SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon Heavy with the now-famous payload of Starman (a mannequin in a SpaceX-designed spacesuit) in Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster. Test flights usually are sent up with payloads of negligible value like concrete or steel blocks, since there is the high likelihood of the…
Yesterday’s Falcon Heavy launch was an amazing (if not unblemished) success. In the glow of this event it is possible to forget that SpaceX was at risk of failing as a venture as recently as 2008. At that time, Wired interviewed Musk after its third high profile failure, when a Falcon 1 second stage failed…