Tesla Elon Musk Email

카테고리 없음 2020. 8. 4. 12:10

Leaked Elon Musk Email Shows Tesla Corner Cutting To Make Model 3 Faster

Dirty tricks or just good business?

2y ago

7.3K

A leaked email from within Tesla, seemingly penned by Elon Musk himself, reveals several of his potentially dubious 'productivity recommendations' for his staff, including walking out of meetings, cutting short unproductive phone calls, sidestepping the chain of command and ignoring company rules.

There has been no shortage of coverage of the disastrous Tesla Model 3 roll-out, particularly in recent weeks, as it was announced that Tesla had implemented a second 'pause in production'.

Given Tesla's financial difficulties and Elon Musk's apparent eagerness to press on with another model (supposedly to be called the Model Y) the Model 3 failings dragging on are becoming more and more of an issue for the company's public image, because people are talking more about their inability to produce their old model than the potential of their new ones.

In order to salvage the situation, then, Musk needed to come up with a solution, fast. As was revealed by EV blog Electrek via a leaked email direct from Elon, the reason for the latest halt in Model 3 production was to allow for a major ramping up of output. (Scroll down to read the leaked email in full.)

Slamming the previous productivity of Tesla's contractors as 'worse than a drunken sloth', the email incorporates much praise of Tesla's own staff, as he says: 'Thanks for being such a kickass team and accomplishing miracles every day. It matters. We are burning the midnight oil to burn the midnight oil.'

The email, with the subject header 'Progress, Precision and Profit', contains a list of tips on how to increase productivity, many of which might be seen as somewhat controversial. For instance, Musk encourages his staff to 'get rid of large meetings', declaring that they are 'the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time'.

He continues: '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.'

Musk then goes even further, advising Tesla employees to 'walk out of a meeting or drop off a call' where possible in order to save time and increase efficiency. Justifying his instructions, he states that 'it is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time'.

In this case, do desperate times necessarily call for these particular desperate measures?

Another recommendation on the list directly condones sidestepping the company chain of command in certain circumstances. The email says: '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.'

While this pragmatic approach will undoubtedly increase productivity, allowing employees to bypass frustrating bureaucracy and facilitating the possibility of a genuine resolution to the current crisis, one might also argue that directly undermining the authority of those in high-ranking positions is a highly dangerous move. In this case, do desperate times necessarily call for these particular desperate measures?

Musk further advises workers to 'always pick common sense as your guide'. In a move that might be seen to compromise even his own authority and influence in the company, he encourages staff that 'if following a "company rule" is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation... then the rule should change'.

Reading the email, Musk's unique, pragmatic and pioneering approach to large-scale management is unmistakable; it is simultaneously awe-inspiring and slightly horrifying. One can't help but suspect that 'Elon' (as he signs off) leaked the email himself, or at the very least wasn't hugely devastated when it was published. It is an excellent way to encourage investors and customers that things are being done to tackle the situation.

This leaked email might just prove to be the saving grace that Tesla so badly needed. The company's previous overreliance on automation technology in factories turned out to be extremely costly, to the extent that Musk personally apologised for the misjudgement just last week.

Musk is truly going all-out to turn Tesla's fortunes around. According to the leaked email, the current technical upgrade will allow for a substantial increase in production - around 3,000 to 4,000 Model 3s should leave the factory per week from next month, and further upgrades should allow that figure to reach 6,000 by the end of June (5,000, allowing for the margin of error).

Elon's plan includes recruiting hundreds more staff at the Fremont plant, so that it can operate around the clock, as well as a crackdown on unnecessary company expenditure. No stone is being left unturned in this unprecedented direct intervention from Musk, and only time will tell whether or not this radical method can succeed - although something tells me it won't be all that much time.

HERE IS THE TEXT OF THE LEAKED EMAIL IN FULL:

Progress, Precision and Profit

Elon Musk

Everybody

Progress

First, congratulations are in order! We have now completed our third full week of producing over 2000 Model 3 vehicles. The first week was 2020, the second was 2070 and we just completed 2250 last week, along with 2000 Model S/X vehicles.

This is more than double Tesla’s weekly production rate last year and an amazing feat in the face of many challenges! It is extremely rare for an automotive company to grow the production rate by over 100% from one year to the next. Moreover, there has simultaneously been a significant improvement in quality and build accuracy, which is reflected in positive owner feedback.

Starting today at Giga and tomorrow at Fremont, we will be stopping for three to five days to do a comprehensive set of upgrades. This should set us up for Model 3 production of 3000 to 4000 per week next month.

Another set of upgrades starting in late May should be enough to unlock production capacity of 6000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of June. Please note that all areas of Tesla and our suppliers will be required to demonstrate a Model 3 capacity of ~6000/week by building 850 sets of car parts in 24 hours no later than June 30th.

Any Tesla department or supplier that is unable to do this will need to have a very good explanation why not, along with a plan for fixing the problem and present that to me directly. If anyone needs help achieving this, please let me know as soon as possible. We are going to find a way or make a way to get there.

The reason that the burst-build target rate is 6000 and not 5000 per week in June is that we cannot have a number with no margin for error across thousands of internally and externally produced parts and processes, amplified by a complex global logistics chain. Actual production will move as fast as the least lucky and least well-executed part of the entire Tesla production/supply chain system.

By having a Model 3 subsystem burst-build requirement of 6k by the end of June, we will lay the groundwork for achieving a steady 6k/week across the whole Model 3 system a few months later.

As part of the drive towards 6k, all Model 3 production at Fremont will move to 24/7operations. This means that we will be adding another shift to general assembly, body and paint. Please refer anyone you know who you think meets the Tesla bar for talent, drive and trust. Between Fremont and Giga, Tesla will be adding about 400 people per week for several weeks.

Precision

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.

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.

Some parts suppliers will be unwilling or unable to achieve this level of precision. I understand that this will be considered an unreasonable request by some. That’s ok, there are lots of other car companies with much lower standards. They just can’t work with Tesla.

Profit

A fair criticism leveled at Tesla by outside critics is that you’re not a real company unless you generate a profit, meaning simply that revenue exceeds costs. It didn’t make sense to do that until reaching economies of scale, but now we are there.

Going forward, we will be far more rigorous about expenditures. I have asked the Tesla finance team to comb through every expense worldwide, no matter how small, and cut everything that doesn’t have a strong value justification.

All capital or other expenditures above a million dollars, or where a set of related expenses may accumulate to a million dollars over the next 12 months, should be considered on hold until explicitly approved by me. If you are the manager responsible, please make sure you have a detailed, first principles understanding of the supplier quote, including every line item of parts & labor, before we meet.

I have been disappointed to discover how many contractor companies are interwoven throughout Tesla. Often, it is like a Russian nesting doll of contractor, subcontractor, sub-subcontractor, etc. before you finally find someone doing actual work. This means a lot of middle-managers adding cost but not doing anything obviously useful. Also, many contracts are essentially open time & materials, not fixed price and duration, which creates an incentive to turn molehills into mountains, as they never want to end the money train.

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.

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.

If there is something you think should be done to make Tesla execute better or allow you to look forward to coming to work more (same thing in the long term), please send a note to [redacted]

Thanks for being such a kickass team and accomplishing miracles every day. It matters. We are burning the midnight oil to burn the midnight oil.

Elon

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Comments (8)

Matt Chronos

Personally, I can't see anything wrong with Elon's advice. There's far too much form without function management nonsense in large companies and the advice of not using obscure acronyms (and, by extension, buzzwords) has been a long time coming. No more will Tesla people have to sit in a meeting listening to some numpty drone on about a paradigm leveraging a synergy of core competencies without the right to fart in his general direction, walk out and actually do something productive.

This "chain of command" nonsense is also ripe for pruning. The number of incompetent people promoted out of harm's reach also has a nasty side-effect of keeping the correct information from the real decision makers.

As much as I disagree with some of Tesla's design decisions (specifically, the ability to open the doors regardless of the state of the electronics), it's a sound strategy. He's talking about bypassing corporate dogma dreamed up by petty becardiganned drivellers with "manager" in their job title who couldn't pour piss from a boot with instructions on the heel and contractors treating the gig as a junket at the expense of the real workforce. If anything, we need more of it.
2 years ago

Jason Reed

Matt Chronos

Interesting perspective. Aren’t you worried about the authority of managers being undermined, especially given the likely very keen and virile workforce at an innovative company like Tesla?

2 years ago

Matt Chronos

Jason Reed

A manager's purpose is to *serve* their team, providing support, advice, encouragement and a buffer between them and upper levels not invent ways to piss them off. Authority is an outdated concept. To manage a team of alpha geeks, you need...

2 years ago