Break down problems into their most basic elements.
Break down complex problems into their most basic elements to understand fundamental truths and build innovative solutions from the ground up.
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was an advocate of “first principles” (or origins) thinking. Nowadays Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is also a champion of this way of thinking. Musk advises that we “boil things down to the most fundamental truths and then reason up from there."
Musk explained his use of first principles thinking in deciding to launch SpaceX:
“I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. So I said, OK, let’s look at the first principles. What is a rocket made of? Aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fiber. And then I asked, what is the value of those materials on the commodity market? It turned out the materials cost of a rocket was around 2 percent of the typical price, a crazy ratio for a large mechanical product.”
Break problems down to their individual components to get a new viewpoint or consider things from an elemental perspective.
Most useful when the group or individuals have a specific problem to solve. You can use the worksheet or just allow people to think freely about problem solving in this way.
Depending on the group, you can choose whether to use the Aristotle example or the Elon Musk example to explain the concept of first principles. Make sure that everybody has identified a particular problem to use with the exercise.
Give people a suitable length of time to complete the worksheet. You can either have people do this individually or work in small groups. The worksheet can be used as an A4 or A3 sheet for individual use, or you could blow it up larger if you want people to collaborate and fill it in together using sharpies or post-it notes.
Optionally, you can get the group to share their findings and compare notes with the rest of the room.
Use this tool when there is a specific problem to solve and it would be useful to look at it from a new angle. You could also use it if there is something that people have been trying to solve for a while but have been coming up short.
Using this tool with a skilled facilitator means that discussions are focused, time is used efficiently, and the group moves toward consensus, making the session productive and impactful.
