Do we need Elon Musk to help fix our planning systems?

According to Jonathan O'Brien - founding editor-in-chief of Inflection Points - this increasing complexity has eroded the productivity of planners over time:

So, where to next? I cannot find a single person in the industry – either within government or private sector – who considers our current framework to be efficient, productive and clearly understood by industry and the community. Not a single one. Most will say it's inferior to what we had 30 years ago. Little wonder supply of even the simplest thing you can do (build a house) is so choked.

Enter Elon Musk. The guy is frankly quite weird, but you can't deny his achievements. An outstanding example of that is how he has driven simplification of rocket engines used for his Space X rockets. The original Raptor 1 engine from 2019 resembles a NASA style tangle of pipes and process that produced 185 metric tonnes of thrust. The latest version is lighter, simpler and will produce over 300 tonnes of thrust. This evolution took just 6 years.

NASA to some extent reminds me of an organisation that resembles our planning laws – they changed little over time, resisted innovation and meaningful reform, created a burgeoning bureaucracy with their own inter-generational career paths, and cost increasingly more to operate. Along comes Elon Musk, who rethinks every process and challenges every article of rocket science faith, and whose Space X is now leading NASA in many respects. The Raptor engines are a visual symbol of how that looks in real life.

Which means it (planning law reform) is possible. But it will not happen by applying the 'business as usual' thought processes, or by inviting 'the usual suspects' to the reform table. The processes and people that created the problems we have today are not the people to reform them.

Musk's 5 Step Algorithm to Cut Internal Bureaucracy (from Corporate Rebels.com)

1. Question every requirement

Before changing anything in your processes, the first step of Musk's algorithm is to create clarity about every requirement that exists today.