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Counterexample: SpaceX. Sometimes, starting from scratch can be very helpful.

by kmmlng 5y ago

Retric 5y ago
SpaceX didn’t start from scratch. The goal for Falcon 1 was to be as conventional a design as possible and save money via vertical integration. By comparison many other companies tried to reinvent things by launching from aircraft etc.
- kaibee 5y ago
  > SpaceX didn’t start from scratch. The goal for Falcon 1 was to be as conventional a design as possible and save money via vertical integration. This is still starting from scratch. The design may be conventional, but you're benefiting from a modern approach to processes and design from the beginning.
  - Retric 5y ago
    This is one of those differences between engineering and software. For physical projects how much something is starting from scratch is kind of arbitrary. Knowing for example the ideal nose cone shapes and tradeoffs is a huge advantage. I mean this is the best way possible, the Falcon 1 didn’t reinvent the wheel. They basically said what’s the simplest useful rocket for getting stuff to orbit copying as much of the design as they could, and built that.
    - bryondowd 5y ago
      You could make the same argument for software. Where do you draw the line "starting from scratch" in software? Does incorporating third party libraries make it not from scratch? What about the standard library of your language of choice? What about using the abstraction of a high level language in general vs a low level language, or straight machine code? For that matter, is it from scratch if you didn't design the logic gates on the chip itself? Or perhaps even come up with the concept of logic gates from electrical and material science principals.. etc.. I'd say that if you are gluing together a bunch of known-good components into a specific configuration that isn't a full copy of something else, you're building from scratch.
      - Retric 5y ago
        Falcon 1 also included 3rd party equipment and software. IMO, that’s fairly analogous to using 3rd party libraries. I am specifically talking about elements they where designing and building in house which where directly copied from earlier designs. Take say all those identical looking highway overpasses. Even if one of those projects started with a blank file, applying standard solutions to standard problems isn’t starting from scratch.

Counterexample: SpaceX. Sometimes, starting from scratch can be very helpful.

by kmmlng 5y ago

Counterexample: SpaceX. Sometimes, starting from scratch can be very helpful.

SpaceX didn’t start from scratch. The goal for Falcon 1 was to be as conventional a design as possible and save money via vertical integration. By comparison many other companies tried to reinvent things by launching from aircraft etc.

kaibee 5y ago
> SpaceX didn’t start from scratch. The goal for Falcon 1 was to be as conventional a design as possible and save money via vertical integration. This is still starting from scratch. The design may be conventional, but you're benefiting from a modern approach to processes and design from the beginning.
- Retric 5y ago
  This is one of those differences between engineering and software. For physical projects how much something is starting from scratch is kind of arbitrary. Knowing for example the ideal nose cone shapes and tradeoffs is a huge advantage. I mean this is the best way possible, the Falcon 1 didn’t reinvent the wheel. They basically said what’s the simplest useful rocket for getting stuff to orbit copying as much of the design as they could, and built that.
  - bryondowd 5y ago
    You could make the same argument for software. Where do you draw the line "starting from scratch" in software? Does incorporating third party libraries make it not from scratch? What about the standard library of your language of choice? What about using the abstraction of a high level language in general vs a low level language, or straight machine code? For that matter, is it from scratch if you didn't design the logic gates on the chip itself? Or perhaps even come up with the concept of logic gates from electrical and material science principals.. etc.. I'd say that if you are gluing together a bunch of known-good components into a specific configuration that isn't a full copy of something else, you're building from scratch.
    - Retric 5y ago
      Falcon 1 also included 3rd party equipment and software. IMO, that’s fairly analogous to using 3rd party libraries. I am specifically talking about elements they where designing and building in house which where directly copied from earlier designs. Take say all those identical looking highway overpasses. Even if one of those projects started with a blank file, applying standard solutions to standard problems isn’t starting from scratch.