How to Build Better Products: 5 Steps to Help Increase Your Chances of Success
Want to build better, more successful tech products?
Whether it’s hardware or software, we might all be very thankful for one fateful day on 5 August 2021, when American YouTuber Tim Dodd, known as the Everyday Astronaut, did a historic 2-hour-long interview with Elon Musk while touring SpaceX’s main rocket development and production facility at Starbase spaceport Boca Chica Village.
On that day, the world was introduced to Musk’s now-famous “5-Step Design Process” – covered by entrepreneur and engineering publications from Inc.com to Hacker News and more, often including the famous quirky phrase “make your requirements less dumb”.
And, since Octoco’s consulting division specialises in helping South African founders develop better products and get market-ready with higher success rates, we can attest that the “problems” Musk sought to address in both the Tesla factories and SpaceX development are some of the most common mistakes new ventures make when building new solutions – both hardware and software related.
So, here’s the Octoco interpretation of Musk’s 5 steps to building better products in South Africa…
First: The Problem Musk Was Trying to Address
None of the publications, nor Musk himself was ever 100% clear about the real-world problems he was trying to address with the process.
And, it’s hard to see the value in the process if you haven’t tried to launch a new product and come up against the wall where it just seems insurmountable, too time-consuming or so expensive no one will back you.
The core of it is that when building, many teams rush to optimise their products and processes before ensuring the fundamentals are correct. The result is spending time and resources on perfecting parts of the process that shouldn’t exist in the first place, delaying development and eating into budgets.
This is equally common in both hardware and software development, where overcomplication and untested assumptions can derail even the most promising ideas.
And we’ve seen this time and again with real ventures right here in South Africa. Here’s how we helped get them back on track…
The 5-Step Process to Building Better Products
1. Make the Requirements Less Dumb
This first step is fundamental to the entire process – and it’s the step that too many teams skip to their detriment.
Musk’s directive is simple: assume every requirement is wrong and make it earn its place on your product requirements list. See, requirements from “smart people” or those with some authority are dangerous because teams accept them without question, often enabling huge inefficiencies to slip through the cracks.
For example: At Musk’s Tesla factories, an insulation requirement between specific components caused massive production delays – until they realised the insulation wasn’t even necessary, it was an overly cautious addition early on that had no merit or grounding in legal or safety requirements (it had been accidentally included in the final product requirements list).
At Octoco, we interpret this to mean that you must question every product requirement, attaching a person’s name to help bring clarity and accountability later in the process. You can even apply the "ABC model" to every requirement:
A: Assume nothing. Challenge every assumption, no matter who made it.
B: Be curious. Ask why this requirement exists and what the consequences are if it’s removed.
C: Confirm the important. Verify the core of what you’re trying to achieve and make sure the requirement serves that purpose.
This method eliminates unnecessary complexity right at the start, saving you from building on top of false assumptions.
We’ve seen this in South Africa: At Octoco, we saw a similar scenario with Henlo Coffee, whose founder had a dream of building a highly advanced coffee machine, and wanted it to feature a beautifully complex wooden chassis to embody its superiority.
It was prohibitively expensive and threatened to slow down manufacturing to the point where the entire project could have become untenable. But, by questioning the necessity of the wooden chassis, we were able to strip away that requirement and focus on the more important AI-powered features – what truly make the machine unique.
Once the unnecessary complexity was removed, Henlo Coffee was able to move forward with production and achieve a successful product launch.
2. Delete Parts of the Process
Once you’ve questioned and clarified every requirement, the next step is to experiment with deleting as much as possible. Musk emphasises that you should aim to remove as many parts of your product or process as you can – often beyond what feels comfortable.
The goal is to strip everything down to its core, and if you don’t find yourself adding back at least 10% of what you removed, you probably haven’t deleted enough.
At Octoco, we interpret this step to mean you need to be relentless in reducing complexity. Often, teams are hesitant to cut features or steps out of fear of losing something valuable, but in reality, that fear of loss leads to bloated products and inefficiency.
3. Simplify and Optimise
Once the product is reduced to its essentials, the next move is to simplify and optimise the remaining elements. Musk warns against optimising too early – it’s one of the most common mistakes in product development. Teams tend to waste time refining or perfecting features that, if challenged, shouldn’t even exist.
At Octoco, this step is about refining the remaining parts of the process to make them as efficient as possible. By focusing on what truly matters, you’re able to direct your resources towards improving the core components of the product.
4. Speed Up Cycle Time
Speed becomes a priority only after unnecessary elements have been removed and the remaining processes have been optimised. Musk emphasizes that many teams try to increase speed prematurely, which only leads to moving faster in the wrong direction.
At Octoco, we focus on reducing bureaucratic and production slowdowns once the foundation is in place. This step is about finding ways to improve the efficiency of workflows and ensuring that teams can iterate faster without compromising quality.
5. Automate
Note that only at the very end do you automate.
Many teams make the mistake of automating too early, which leads to scaling inefficiencies rather than solving them. Musk’s process stresses that automation should only come once everything is simplified, optimised, and ready to scale.
At Octoco, automation is the last step we consider, ensuring that it’s only applied to the processes that have already been refined and streamlined.
Why Octoco Follows this Method
At Octoco, we’ve found that Musk’s 5-step process perfectly aligns with our engineering philosophy.
We offer vital outsourced CTO support and services to founders, teams or ventures that do not have an internal CTO or require specialised engineering expertise, as well as hardware engineering and software engineering to help more SA companies succeed.
And we found that, by focusing on eliminating waste and questioning every requirement, we ensure that teams avoid unnecessary complexity and deliver real value faster.
For us, it’s not just about building products; it’s about building them the right way, from the ground up. This disciplined approach has helped us successfully launch numerous products across both hardware and software spaces.
See The Results of This Process in Action
1. In The B2B Commercial Hardware & Software Space
Henlo Coffee approached us for CTO support, hardware and software engineering to help debug and redevelop their advanced coffee machines with market-leading AI capabilities.
2. In The B2B AgriTech IoT & GPS Tracking Space
Picklogger approached us for CTO support, hardware and software engineering to help solve granular yield-, tree- and employee productivity-based insights for unprecedented data-driven insights in the Agri space.
3. In The B2C Commercial Software Space
Kaboose approached us for CTO support and software engineering to overhaul their app with a more intuitive user interface and implement more robust safety measures to enhance user trust and privacy.
See loads more successful Octoco projects here.
Need help developing a better product with more chance of success?
Book a free strategy session with the Octoco team.
