Product Tank talk first presented by Philip Pantelides at Cookpad HQ 13th September 2017
3 simple steps in using Elon Musk and Henry Ford’s first principles approach to product management and solving complex problems
3. first principles
Noun
1. the fundamental concepts or assumptions on which a
theory, system, or method is based.
"I think we have to start again and go right back to
first principles"
@philipantelides
4. First principles are a key part of a product manager’s
toolkit when tackling complex problems, where there
may be many variables or assumptions in place.
@philipantelides
5. Scientifically solve problems and create solutions beyond
what would be possible when using a comparative
approach based on convention, analogy or previous
experiences
@philipantelides
6. @philipantelides
‘Facebook / Amazon /
Google did it that
way’
‘My mum would
never use that!’
‘Our competitors are
doing this’
‘Donald Trump will
never become
president’
8. @philipantelides
Why is this important for Cookpad?
We are the only species biologically adapted to eating our
food cooked - Dr Richard Wrangham - Harvard
Anthropologist
BUT
People are time, skill, money poor when it comes to food
11. @philipantelides
Where are first principles used?
Descartes
Cartesian doubt - 1641
“I think therefore I am”
1. Accepting only information you know to be true
2. Breaking down these truths into smaller units
3. Solving the simple problems first
4. Making complete lists of further problems
12. @philipantelides
Where are first principles used?
Henry Ford
“If I had asked people what they
wanted, they would have said faster
horses.”
13. @philipantelides
Where are first principles used?
Elon Musk and
Henry Ford
“What would it cost to build a
car/rocket/EV if I broke it down to its
most basic materials and found a
more efficient way to put it together?”
15. @philipantelides
“I think generally people’s thinking process is too bound by
convention or analogy to prior experiences. They’ll say, “We’ll
do that because it’s always been done that way.”
“[With first principles] you boil things down to the most
fundamental truths…and then reason up from there.”
— Elon Musk
18. @philipantelides
3 steps to working from first principles
1. Understand the current state and the desired state AKA Vision
2. Peeling back the onion or 5 x Why? AKA First principles
3. The scientific method AKA Strategy
19. @philipantelides
1. Understand the current state & desired state
AKA Vision
What is the customer currently doing and the
problems they are facing?
What reality currently looks like to them?
What is the customer trying to achieve?
What does their desired state looks like?
22. @philipantelides
2. Peeling back the onion or 5 x Why?
AKA First principles
Ask “are we sure that is true?”
until the answer is yes.
Outside in
Truth
Start with what you know to be
true
Inside out
‘Humans need to eat
cooked food’
E=mc2
31. @philipantelides
Online Credit - Back to first principles
Q1: Why are multiple pieces of information needed to run a credit check?
A1: So you can understand a customer’s payment history, amount owed, length of
history, types of credit
Q2: Why do you need to know this information?
A2: So you can calculate the risk to the bank in lending the customer credit
Q3: Why do you need to calculate risk?
A3: So the bank can work out how much money is safe to lend
32. @philipantelides
Online Credit - Back to first principles
Therefore we can be sure:
Credit rating is a function of risk to work out
how much money is safe to lend
35. @philipantelides
Tying it all together
1. Establish the status quo and the desired outcome
2. Strip back external biases to what you know to be true
3. Build up a set of hypothesis and test them in order of importance
until the theory is watertight
Well done you have applied first principles thinking to product
management!
3. Build up a set of hypothesis and test them in order of importance
until the theory is watertight