"Why hasn't anyone thought of this before??"
That's the magic of First Principle Thinking.
From time to time, we all come across something so groundbreaking yet so simple that it makes us exclaim in amazement, “Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?”. This can range from any day-to-day product, such as Ketchup in a squeeze tube or an ice tray designed to make ice that fits into a water bottle, to a radical design for a rocket that can enable cheap transport to and from space. That is the power of First Principles thinking.
Many entrepreneurs, product designers and great thinkers, including Elon Musk, have attributed First Principles thinking to being critical to their success, and justifiably so. It helps in creating product differentiation and adds more absolute value to the product or to the user experience. But what is First Principles thinking? In this article, we will clearly explain what it is, Why it is important, When to use it, When not to use it, and some simple methods to practice using the technique in our daily lives. But first…
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What is First Principles Thinking?
First Principle’s Thinking is a powerful problem-solving framework that is useful for deconstructing problems, generating creative solutions, and driving exponential results.
Over two thousand years ago, Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher, defined a first principle as “the first basis from which a thing is known.”. Consider it the most basic building block of a process or a product. First principles are foundational truths that do not require any additional assumption and hold true in all circumstances. The atomic unit.
First-principle thinking, also referred to as reasoning with first principles, is a problem-solving approach that requires you to distill a problem down to its first principle and its foundational elements. It is a fancy way of saying, “Think like a scientist.” Scientists don't assume anything.
“First Principles is kind of like a physics way of looking at the world. You boil things down to its most foundational truths and say, “What are we sure is true?” and reason up from there”- Elon Musk
This method runs in contrast to how we usually solve problems. In our day-to-day lives, it is not necessary for us to discard all our assumptions in order to solve problems; rather, in most cases, we would be better off by assuming some things in order to optimise the solving of more problems. Then…
Why do we need it?
Solving problems by assuming some basic information is known as reasoning by analogy. It is quick and easy to do. However, the solutions it yields are similar to solutions that might already being used or can be described as “ .. like something else..”. It gives us solutions that would be closely related to solutions that might have been done before.
Reasoning by analogy has its advantages. It allows us to solve more problems at higher speed and agility. Which is why we have evolved to use it by default. However, reasoning by analogy falls short when dealing with complex problems, where we require creative and imaginative solutions.
Imagine the problem you are trying to solve as a house. The First principles act as the foundation of the house. If the foundation is solid and deliberately built, it allows us to experiment with the structure without being worried that the house might collapse. On the other hand, if the foundation is weak, the structure will never give confidence in its integrity.
First principles thinking allows us to discard any assumptions we might have about the problem at hand and start by laying a solid foundation.
Elon Musk and SpaceX
To see first principle thinking in action, let’s take the example of Elon Musk and SpaceX.
The Problem: Sending a rocket to Mars in a cost-effective manner.
As he began to dig into the problem, he quickly realised the cost of buying a rocket was astronomical (Pun intended :)), around 65 million dollars. This being a complex problem requiring creative thinking, Musk turned to First principles.
On diving further, Musk found that the total cost of the raw materials used to build a rocket was around 2% of the total cost of the rocket. The primary driver of the market cost of a rocket was just the assumption of how rockets have always been built and what they should cost.
Taking stock of the situation, Elon made the decision for SpaceX to build its own rockets and software systems. Musk also denied the assumption that a rocket engine could be used only once, after which it was discarded.
Currently, SpaceX is the world's leading provider of launch services and is the first private company to have delivered astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), and the first and only company to complete an all-civilian crewed mission to orbit. All of these were possible due to some creative solutions.
When and how to use it?
It is important to understand it might not make sense to use the First principles approach to all problems as it is a time-consuming process. To make sure you should spend your time and effort in applying the framework, first check if the problem at hand meets these 2 criteria:
The problem is complex and can be prone to reasoning with analogy.
Creativity is more important than the speed of the solution.
If the solution to the problem at hand prioritizes creativity and innovation over speed and efficiency, then choose first principles thinking, else use reasoning by analogy.
To apply first principles thinking, start by drilling deep into the problem at hand by asking deep questions till you reach the core of the problem. This is also known as Socratic questioning. This is a methodical process of resurfacing the curiosity around the problem. Here are some questions you can try and answer:
What is the problem I am trying to solve? - identify the right problem.
What do I know to be true about this problem? Why do I believe these truths to be true? - evaluate the integrity and validity of the truths to remove assumptions.
Are these beliefs supported by real evidence? - Look out for hard, tangible evidence to back your beliefs.
Are my emotions clouding my thoughts and decisions? - Try to be as logical as possible to find the core truths of the problem.
What other viewpoints might exist? - A fundamental truth will remain valid for all viewpoints.
Conclusion:
The world is filled with unimaginative copycat solutions; making minor improvements leads to linear outcomes. First principles thinking provides creative solutions to complex problems, providing non-linear outcomes by grounding itself in the core truths of the problem. First principles thinkers are independent thinkers; in this era where AI can do most of the reasoning by analogy, we can all strive to implement this framework in our lives.
Impressed by the thread of insights
Good read!!!
Loved the insights :)