7 ms·

Tesla switching to 24/7 shifts to push for more model 3s by June

65 points by fluxic 8y ago

DmenshunlAnlsis 8y ago
Most of the design tolerances of the Model 3 are already better than any other car in the world. Soon, they will all be better. This is not enough. We will keep going until the Model 3 build precision is a factor of ten better than any other car in the world. I am not kidding. I’d settle for precision beating their previous janky models with a nearly 50% recall rate. Our car needs to be designed and built with such accuracy and precision that, if an owner measures dimensions, panel gaps and flushness, and their measurements don’t match the Model 3 specs, it just means that their measuring tape is wrong. Right, and if their “autopilot” kills them, they were using it wrong. There is a very wide range of contractor performance, from excellent to worse than a drunken sloth. All contracting companies should consider the coming week to be a final opportunity to demonstrate excellence. Any that fail to meet the Tesla standard of excellence will have their contracts ended on Monday. This whole letter reads like a puff piece intended for fanboys and stakeholders to pass around and fantasize about, but three weeks of meeting goals shouldn’t give anyone a head this big. This is from the same guy who just realized he couldn’t automate everything he wanted to, and who the NTSB just booted off a death investigation. The last thing needed here is grandiose talk. Instead of trying to leap from being marginal to the greatest ever, how about trying to meet reasonable goals, safety standards, and work with the NTSB? Instead of trying for Ferrari-esque panel gaps, just do better than the Model S and meet basic industry standards within class.
- davidzweig 8y ago
  A good part design reduces the requirement of tight mechanical tolerances to perform correctly. Manufacturing costs can be reduced. This is preferable to a design that requires tight tolerances to function equivalently. Maybe in terms of fit and finish of the interior or the exterior panels superior 'precision' is a desirable attribute. But this still reads a little odd to an engineer.
danso 8y ago
> Don’t use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software or processes at Tesla. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We don’t want people to have to memorize a glossary just to function at Tesla. I'm guessing "HTTP" is exempt.
- jamestimmins 8y ago
  At SpaceX there was the infamous email banning TLAs (three letter acronyms).
  - SilasX 8y ago
    Your comment is kinda making the same point though. In any case, I think you could enforce the spirit of that idea with something like: 1) Don't use abbreviations or terms outside of common English unless it's in The Glossary. 2) If you want to use such a term, add it to the Glossary. 3) It's some group's job to review the Glossary for garbage.
  - Rebelgecko 8y ago
    How long ago was that? Seems like they gave up for ITS/BFR
    - jamestimmins 8y ago
      I'm not sure how seriously it was ever taken. I also suspect that using an acronym for a major initiative is seen differently than adding them to the workflow.
- psyc 8y ago
  Good for him. There are a few other [anti]management gems in there as well.
- mstade 8y ago
  I don't know anything about Tesla or working there, but my experience from large financial institutions is that acronyms are part and parcel of business speak. It's beyond comical, because very often you'll see the acronyms immediately followed by their expansion in parenthesis making it very clear that the acronyms are not widely known or accepted. But they keep being used, and each business unit likes to come up with their own. I find it pretentious and inhibiting to communication, and I make a point of not using acronyms that aren't already very well established to the point where the communications can be understood by more or less anyone. I detest the invention and use of these acronyms and – ignoring the rest of the email – I for one would love to see such an instruction come from management at my place of work.
Jasper_ 8y ago
> Most of the design tolerances of the Model 3 are already better than any other car in the world. Really? The Model 3's panel gaps are quite well-known among car owners. One example from Munro and Associates: https://youtu.be/QCIo8e12sBM?t=394 https://youtu.be/QCIo8e12sBM?t=394 How can Elon say this with a straight face?
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  Not to mention that all the COTs or nearly COTs assemblies on their cars are made to the same spec as they are for whatever other OEM buys them. A TRW unit bearing supplied to Tesla in one bolt pattern and spline configuration isn't any more precise than the same bearing assembly in a different bolt pattern and spline configuration sold to GM. Tesla is not in a position to dictate abnormally high tolerances to it's suppliers for stuff like that. Edit: Why am I being down-voted. Is this not a correct analysis of the situation?
- Luc 8y ago
  Presumably because he's talking about last week's improved production, not an average over all cars produced. A bit cheeky none the less.
  - SilasX 8y ago
    Startup software mindset: "We found this massive list of a problems with this build of the car." 'So? That's from, like, a year ago, we've changed a ton of stuff since then.'
- datamingle 8y ago
  "Most"
- jeremejevs 8y ago
  Not defending the gaps, but "most of the design tolerances" != "all design tolerances". There's much more to a car than just cosmetics. And I'm not claiming that those non-cosmetic parts are all top quality, just that it's possible that they are.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
treis 8y ago
Wowsa. This is the type of e-mail that would get me to polish ye olde resume and start looking for other jobs. Nothing like the combination of impossible goals, additional overhead, and reduced capacity.
- iamcreasy 8y ago
  They are adding another shift. What 'reduced capacity' you are talking about?
  - LeifCarrotson 8y ago
    Are they adding additional employees to handle that shift (additional employees at all levels - not just operators and technicians)? Or are existing employees expected to do more work?
    - 0vermorrow 8y ago
      It's straight up in the article... “Please refer anyone you know who you think meets the Tesla bar for talent, drive and trust” he wrote. “Between Fremont and Giga, Tesla will be adding about 400 people per week for several weeks.”
    - treis 8y ago
      Hiring people is a short term drain on existing employees. They're the ones doing all the interviewing and onboarding for these new people.
  - praneshp 8y ago
    They're going to switch to 24/7 (because thats apparently required for the 6k/week goal) by end of June. Your parent probably thinks (like I do), that it's not enough time to hire enough people and onboard them for an entire extra shift in 8 weeks.
  - treis 8y ago
    From the e-mail: There is a very wide range of contractor performance, from excellent to worse than a drunken sloth. All contracting companies should consider the coming week to be a final opportunity to demonstrate excellence. Any that fail to meet the Tesla standard of excellence will have their contracts ended on Monday. Unless this is an empty threat a bunch of contractors will be out the door on Monday. Which means less capacity to do the work. Hiring line employees for a 3rd shift is great, but where are all the supporting ops people like safety engineers and plant managers going to come from? Doing that means a bunch of white collar employees just got a whole lot more work to do.
thrillgore 8y ago
Tesla's stock value is driven 100% by Elon Musk. If he were shown the door, the company would flatline.
mkempe 8y ago
To all the naysayers here: you may not believe in the factory reaching the goals and standards he is announcing -- but a proper time to pass judgment will be by July, not now, not in advance. Until then all you say is (mostly) noise.
- MBCook 8y ago
  Why? What about all the previous times Tesla hasn’t made goals and said they were doing something to fix it? At this point I don’t trust any predictions or promises Musk says. His timelines (and level of product quality) are something to be very suspicious about. And that doesn’t include when I think he’s flat out lying for marketing reasons (“Autopilot”). I used to like Tesla, but this happens too much. I don’t doubt the production rate will improve, I doubt his estimate. I doubt the quality will improve to the level he claims (or possibly much at all). I doubt the Y will come out anywhere near on time. I don’t see why he should deserve the benefit of the doubt anymore.
- Jasper_ 8y ago
  I didn't believe in Elon the 20 times before that he sent out emails like this and -- shock and awe -- they didn't reach their target. I still wait with bated breath, but will be pleasantly surprised if they actually achieve this goal this time.
silentfish 8y ago
> A major source of issues is poor communication between depts. The way to solve this is allow free flow of information between all levels. If, in order to get something done between depts, an individual contributor has to talk to their manager, who talks to a director, who talks to a VP, who talks to another VP, who talks to a director, who talks to a manager, who talks to someone doing the actual work, then super dumb things will happen. It must be ok for people to talk directly and just make the right thing happen. This is a way to create a clusterfuck. Nothing is worse than having people barging in from other departments going over managers' heads and imposing their own priorities.
- urmish 8y ago
  I think it depends on the sensitivity/urgency of the matter. Its better to avoid chain of command in urgent matters that an employee might feel slows down production for example. In other cases common sense dictates going through the chain in order to avoid chaos as you describe.
- praneshp 8y ago
  Or worse, a senior-ish person barging in and imposing priorities.
- pjc50 8y ago
  I disagree: I have seen so many situations where a simple piece of information turns into a game of Telephone and a political football, resulting in absurd delays. That's not the same as imposing different priorities, it's just a question of "I need X in order to do Y".
- agitator 8y ago
  I'm a huge fan of this. But it relies on your co-workers having commons sense, the ability to logically reason, and to have the ability to judge priorities on their own. This is how a company should operate. Where everyone is on the same team, working to solve the most pressing problems, and working on what on what justifiably blocks the company from it's most critical goals. Again its critical to hire non-idiots, and this works great. Hence why people who do things without rationally justifiable reasons get fired from Tesla regularly.
samlevine 8y ago
Climate change is an existential threat. This is the language of someone who takes this seriously.
Animats 8y ago
Bloomberg agrees they got their production rate up.[1] Now they're getting someplace. This is about what you expect from a highly automated production line. If it's not working perfectly, production quality and quantity are poor. There are line stops all the time. Once it's fully debugged, product comes out in vast quantities. Then you need to watch quality. In the end, Tesla took about as long as everybody else does to debug a final assembly line. They tried to use it for production during debugging, which ran up their costs. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-tracker/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-tracker/
Bellyache5 8y ago
> We are burning the midnight oil to burn the midnight oil. This is an odd way to end a memo titled "Progress". Are employees supposed to be motivated by the prospect of a self-propagating series of tough slogs?
tbirrell 8y ago
> Communication should travel via the shortest path necessary to get the job done, not through the “chain of command”. Any manager who attempts to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves working elsewhere. If the chain of command is inefficient, then change it, don't go around it. Managers are there for a reason, and leaving them out to get quicker results will bite you in the butt down the road.
- xyzzy_plugh 8y ago
  I think perhaps there is a difference between chain of command and simply CCing managers of involved parties.
- kbart 8y ago
  "If the chain of command is inefficient, then change it, don't go around it." I work in a "flat" company now and couldn't be happier. Also, I haven't seen such productivity in any siloed company around. Managers should help with communication and cooperation when needed, not act as a gateway when I need to have a quick chat with another technical people in different department.
waynenilsen 8y ago
I found this interesting > Btw, here are a few productivity recommendations: > - Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short. > - Also get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter. Meeting frequency should drop rapidly once the urgent matter is resolved. > - Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time. > - Don’t use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software or processes at Tesla. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We don’t want people to have to memorize a glossary just to function at Tesla. > - Communication should travel via the shortest path necessary to get the job done, not through the “chain of command”. Any manager who attempts to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves working elsewhere. > - A major source of issues is poor communication between depts. The way to solve this is allow free flow of information between all levels. If, in order to get something done between depts, an individual contributor has to talk to their manager, who talks to a director, who talks to a VP, who talks to another VP, who talks to a director, who talks to a manager, who talks to someone doing the actual work, then super dumb things will happen. It must be ok for people to talk directly and just make the right thing happen. > - In general, always pick common sense as your guide. If following a “company rule” is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation, such that it would make for a great Dilbert cartoon, then the rule should change.
- aaomidi 8y ago
  With all the respect I have for Elon, I don't think he realizes he's not the CEO of a startup company anymore. Getting rid of acronyms will have an inverse effect on productivity. Are you supposed to explain each time you refer to it? I agree if someone is new to the team then you should probably explain a few times before using acronyms. But for established teams, this just slows everyone down. Chain of command is there so that no one goes over the other person's head. If two developers disagree on an approach and one just straight up goes to the manager instead of the project manager it causes issues for the whole team. I'm a fan of "hey you should be able to talk to whomever you want", but not as the default. Company rule is there to protect the worker in case they made a bad decision. As long as it was within the company rule, they can't be blamed as much as "hey I used common sense". For massive companies you need these systems in place.
mkempe 8y ago
When Musk writes "We are going to find a way or make a way to get there" he echoes this quote attributed in Latin to Hannibal: "Aut viam inveniam, aut faciam" (I will find a way, or make one) when his generals told him it was impossible to cross the Alps by elephant. It was used as a motto by Francis Bacon.
seem_2211 8y ago
I don't have a horse in the race either way, but I love watching the Tesla bulls and bears comment on everything. It's an amazing spectator sport.
FullMtlAlcoholc 8y ago
Discussions about Elon Musk and, specifically, Tesla has become quite the lightning rod around here with negative sentiment rising. Here's a little tidbit of info that I think partly explains it: a lot of it is driven by schadenfraude. "Investors have placed more bets against Tesla than any other U.S. stock, with short interest hovering around 25 percent, according to S3 Analytics." So I suspect a fair amount of posturing and astroturfing amongst the detractors mixed within those who have are more sincere in their positions. As always, be skeptical. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-13/tesla-may-be-the-most-hated-stock-in-america-and-the-most-loved https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-13/tesla-may...
drinchev 8y ago
Wow that’s like a CEO I would like to have. I really like his attitude that an already big company should not act like a conglomerate. Cutting middleman is always something that I advise my managers to do, as well as pointless time-wasting meetings. Keep in mind that some Germans here think Tesla is a joke, because “nobody can mass produce cars so easily” And they are both right and wrong. It’s a tough business, but I have no doubt that someone like him can actually make it till the end.

65 points by fluxic 8y ago

Most of the design tolerances of the Model 3 are already better than any other car in the world. Soon, they will all be better. This is not enough. We will keep going until the Model 3 build precision is a factor of ten better than any other car in the world. I am not kidding. I’d settle for precision beating their previous janky models with a nearly 50% recall rate. Our car needs to be designed and built with such accuracy and precision that, if an owner measures dimensions, panel gaps and flushness, and their measurements don’t match the Model 3 specs, it just means that their measuring tape is wrong. Right, and if their “autopilot” kills them, they were using it wrong. There is a very wide range of contractor performance, from excellent to worse than a drunken sloth. All contracting companies should consider the coming week to be a final opportunity to demonstrate excellence. Any that fail to meet the Tesla standard of excellence will have their contracts ended on Monday. This whole letter reads like a puff piece intended for fanboys and stakeholders to pass around and fantasize about, but three weeks of meeting goals shouldn’t give anyone a head this big. This is from the same guy who just realized he couldn’t automate everything he wanted to, and who the NTSB just booted off a death investigation. The last thing needed here is grandiose talk. Instead of trying to leap from being marginal to the greatest ever, how about trying to meet reasonable goals, safety standards, and work with the NTSB? Instead of trying for Ferrari-esque panel gaps, just do better than the Model S and meet basic industry standards within class.

davidzweig 8y ago
A good part design reduces the requirement of tight mechanical tolerances to perform correctly. Manufacturing costs can be reduced. This is preferable to a design that requires tight tolerances to function equivalently. Maybe in terms of fit and finish of the interior or the exterior panels superior 'precision' is a desirable attribute. But this still reads a little odd to an engineer.

danso 8y ago

> Don’t use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software or processes at Tesla. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We don’t want people to have to memorize a glossary just to function at Tesla. I'm guessing "HTTP" is exempt.

jamestimmins 8y ago
At SpaceX there was the infamous email banning TLAs (three letter acronyms).
- SilasX 8y ago
  Your comment is kinda making the same point though. In any case, I think you could enforce the spirit of that idea with something like: 1) Don't use abbreviations or terms outside of common English unless it's in The Glossary. 2) If you want to use such a term, add it to the Glossary. 3) It's some group's job to review the Glossary for garbage.
- Rebelgecko 8y ago
  How long ago was that? Seems like they gave up for ITS/BFR
  - jamestimmins 8y ago
    I'm not sure how seriously it was ever taken. I also suspect that using an acronym for a major initiative is seen differently than adding them to the workflow.
psyc 8y ago
Good for him. There are a few other [anti]management gems in there as well.
mstade 8y ago
I don't know anything about Tesla or working there, but my experience from large financial institutions is that acronyms are part and parcel of business speak. It's beyond comical, because very often you'll see the acronyms immediately followed by their expansion in parenthesis making it very clear that the acronyms are not widely known or accepted. But they keep being used, and each business unit likes to come up with their own. I find it pretentious and inhibiting to communication, and I make a point of not using acronyms that aren't already very well established to the point where the communications can be understood by more or less anyone. I detest the invention and use of these acronyms and – ignoring the rest of the email – I for one would love to see such an instruction come from management at my place of work.

Jasper_ 8y ago

> Most of the design tolerances of the Model 3 are already better than any other car in the world. Really? The Model 3's panel gaps are quite well-known among car owners. One example from Munro and Associates: https://youtu.be/QCIo8e12sBM?t=394 https://youtu.be/QCIo8e12sBM?t=394 How can Elon say this with a straight face?

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
Not to mention that all the COTs or nearly COTs assemblies on their cars are made to the same spec as they are for whatever other OEM buys them. A TRW unit bearing supplied to Tesla in one bolt pattern and spline configuration isn't any more precise than the same bearing assembly in a different bolt pattern and spline configuration sold to GM. Tesla is not in a position to dictate abnormally high tolerances to it's suppliers for stuff like that. Edit: Why am I being down-voted. Is this not a correct analysis of the situation?
Luc 8y ago
Presumably because he's talking about last week's improved production, not an average over all cars produced. A bit cheeky none the less.
- SilasX 8y ago
  Startup software mindset: "We found this massive list of a problems with this build of the car." 'So? That's from, like, a year ago, we've changed a ton of stuff since then.'
datamingle 8y ago
"Most"
jeremejevs 8y ago
Not defending the gaps, but "most of the design tolerances" != "all design tolerances". There's much more to a car than just cosmetics. And I'm not claiming that those non-cosmetic parts are all top quality, just that it's possible that they are.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

treis 8y ago

Wowsa. This is the type of e-mail that would get me to polish ye olde resume and start looking for other jobs. Nothing like the combination of impossible goals, additional overhead, and reduced capacity.

iamcreasy 8y ago
They are adding another shift. What 'reduced capacity' you are talking about?
- LeifCarrotson 8y ago
  Are they adding additional employees to handle that shift (additional employees at all levels - not just operators and technicians)? Or are existing employees expected to do more work?
  - 0vermorrow 8y ago
    It's straight up in the article... “Please refer anyone you know who you think meets the Tesla bar for talent, drive and trust” he wrote. “Between Fremont and Giga, Tesla will be adding about 400 people per week for several weeks.”
  - treis 8y ago
    Hiring people is a short term drain on existing employees. They're the ones doing all the interviewing and onboarding for these new people.
- praneshp 8y ago
  They're going to switch to 24/7 (because thats apparently required for the 6k/week goal) by end of June. Your parent probably thinks (like I do), that it's not enough time to hire enough people and onboard them for an entire extra shift in 8 weeks.
- treis 8y ago
  From the e-mail: There is a very wide range of contractor performance, from excellent to worse than a drunken sloth. All contracting companies should consider the coming week to be a final opportunity to demonstrate excellence. Any that fail to meet the Tesla standard of excellence will have their contracts ended on Monday. Unless this is an empty threat a bunch of contractors will be out the door on Monday. Which means less capacity to do the work. Hiring line employees for a 3rd shift is great, but where are all the supporting ops people like safety engineers and plant managers going to come from? Doing that means a bunch of white collar employees just got a whole lot more work to do.

thrillgore 8y ago

Tesla's stock value is driven 100% by Elon Musk. If he were shown the door, the company would flatline.

mkempe 8y ago

To all the naysayers here: you may not believe in the factory reaching the goals and standards he is announcing -- but a proper time to pass judgment will be by July, not now, not in advance. Until then all you say is (mostly) noise.

MBCook 8y ago
Why? What about all the previous times Tesla hasn’t made goals and said they were doing something to fix it? At this point I don’t trust any predictions or promises Musk says. His timelines (and level of product quality) are something to be very suspicious about. And that doesn’t include when I think he’s flat out lying for marketing reasons (“Autopilot”). I used to like Tesla, but this happens too much. I don’t doubt the production rate will improve, I doubt his estimate. I doubt the quality will improve to the level he claims (or possibly much at all). I doubt the Y will come out anywhere near on time. I don’t see why he should deserve the benefit of the doubt anymore.
Jasper_ 8y ago
I didn't believe in Elon the 20 times before that he sent out emails like this and -- shock and awe -- they didn't reach their target. I still wait with bated breath, but will be pleasantly surprised if they actually achieve this goal this time.

silentfish 8y ago

> A major source of issues is poor communication between depts. The way to solve this is allow free flow of information between all levels. If, in order to get something done between depts, an individual contributor has to talk to their manager, who talks to a director, who talks to a VP, who talks to another VP, who talks to a director, who talks to a manager, who talks to someone doing the actual work, then super dumb things will happen. It must be ok for people to talk directly and just make the right thing happen. This is a way to create a clusterfuck. Nothing is worse than having people barging in from other departments going over managers' heads and imposing their own priorities.

urmish 8y ago
I think it depends on the sensitivity/urgency of the matter. Its better to avoid chain of command in urgent matters that an employee might feel slows down production for example. In other cases common sense dictates going through the chain in order to avoid chaos as you describe.
praneshp 8y ago
Or worse, a senior-ish person barging in and imposing priorities.
pjc50 8y ago
I disagree: I have seen so many situations where a simple piece of information turns into a game of Telephone and a political football, resulting in absurd delays. That's not the same as imposing different priorities, it's just a question of "I need X in order to do Y".
agitator 8y ago
I'm a huge fan of this. But it relies on your co-workers having commons sense, the ability to logically reason, and to have the ability to judge priorities on their own. This is how a company should operate. Where everyone is on the same team, working to solve the most pressing problems, and working on what on what justifiably blocks the company from it's most critical goals. Again its critical to hire non-idiots, and this works great. Hence why people who do things without rationally justifiable reasons get fired from Tesla regularly.

samlevine 8y ago

Climate change is an existential threat. This is the language of someone who takes this seriously.

Animats 8y ago

Bloomberg agrees they got their production rate up.[1] Now they're getting someplace. This is about what you expect from a highly automated production line. If it's not working perfectly, production quality and quantity are poor. There are line stops all the time. Once it's fully debugged, product comes out in vast quantities. Then you need to watch quality. In the end, Tesla took about as long as everybody else does to debug a final assembly line. They tried to use it for production during debugging, which ran up their costs. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-tracker/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-tracker/

Bellyache5 8y ago

> We are burning the midnight oil to burn the midnight oil. This is an odd way to end a memo titled "Progress". Are employees supposed to be motivated by the prospect of a self-propagating series of tough slogs?

tbirrell 8y ago

> Communication should travel via the shortest path necessary to get the job done, not through the “chain of command”. Any manager who attempts to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves working elsewhere. If the chain of command is inefficient, then change it, don't go around it. Managers are there for a reason, and leaving them out to get quicker results will bite you in the butt down the road.

xyzzy_plugh 8y ago
I think perhaps there is a difference between chain of command and simply CCing managers of involved parties.
kbart 8y ago
"If the chain of command is inefficient, then change it, don't go around it." I work in a "flat" company now and couldn't be happier. Also, I haven't seen such productivity in any siloed company around. Managers should help with communication and cooperation when needed, not act as a gateway when I need to have a quick chat with another technical people in different department.

waynenilsen 8y ago

I found this interesting > Btw, here are a few productivity recommendations: > - Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short. > - Also get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter. Meeting frequency should drop rapidly once the urgent matter is resolved. > - Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time. > - Don’t use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software or processes at Tesla. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We don’t want people to have to memorize a glossary just to function at Tesla. > - Communication should travel via the shortest path necessary to get the job done, not through the “chain of command”. Any manager who attempts to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves working elsewhere. > - A major source of issues is poor communication between depts. The way to solve this is allow free flow of information between all levels. If, in order to get something done between depts, an individual contributor has to talk to their manager, who talks to a director, who talks to a VP, who talks to another VP, who talks to a director, who talks to a manager, who talks to someone doing the actual work, then super dumb things will happen. It must be ok for people to talk directly and just make the right thing happen. > - In general, always pick common sense as your guide. If following a “company rule” is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation, such that it would make for a great Dilbert cartoon, then the rule should change.

aaomidi 8y ago
With all the respect I have for Elon, I don't think he realizes he's not the CEO of a startup company anymore. Getting rid of acronyms will have an inverse effect on productivity. Are you supposed to explain each time you refer to it? I agree if someone is new to the team then you should probably explain a few times before using acronyms. But for established teams, this just slows everyone down. Chain of command is there so that no one goes over the other person's head. If two developers disagree on an approach and one just straight up goes to the manager instead of the project manager it causes issues for the whole team. I'm a fan of "hey you should be able to talk to whomever you want", but not as the default. Company rule is there to protect the worker in case they made a bad decision. As long as it was within the company rule, they can't be blamed as much as "hey I used common sense". For massive companies you need these systems in place.

mkempe 8y ago

When Musk writes "We are going to find a way or make a way to get there" he echoes this quote attributed in Latin to Hannibal: "Aut viam inveniam, aut faciam" (I will find a way, or make one) when his generals told him it was impossible to cross the Alps by elephant. It was used as a motto by Francis Bacon.

seem_2211 8y ago

I don't have a horse in the race either way, but I love watching the Tesla bulls and bears comment on everything. It's an amazing spectator sport.

FullMtlAlcoholc 8y ago

Discussions about Elon Musk and, specifically, Tesla has become quite the lightning rod around here with negative sentiment rising. Here's a little tidbit of info that I think partly explains it: a lot of it is driven by schadenfraude. "Investors have placed more bets against Tesla than any other U.S. stock, with short interest hovering around 25 percent, according to S3 Analytics." So I suspect a fair amount of posturing and astroturfing amongst the detractors mixed within those who have are more sincere in their positions. As always, be skeptical. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-13/tesla-may-be-the-most-hated-stock-in-america-and-the-most-loved https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-13/tesla-may...

drinchev 8y ago

Wow that’s like a CEO I would like to have. I really like his attitude that an already big company should not act like a conglomerate. Cutting middleman is always something that I advise my managers to do, as well as pointless time-wasting meetings. Keep in mind that some Germans here think Tesla is a joke, because “nobody can mass produce cars so easily” And they are both right and wrong. It’s a tough business, but I have no doubt that someone like him can actually make it till the end.