S04 Ep. 06 Joe Justice – Working at a Musk Company: Modularity, Innovation and Cash flow

Boundaryless Conversations Podcast

The guest of this episode is Joe Justice. Joe is a legend of Agile and helped implement Agile across the world in more than 20 countries. He has led Agile practices at incredible companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, Tesla, Toyota, NEC, and KDDI. In the early 2010s, his passion for mechanical engineering led him to found Wikispeed, a not so usual open source car manufacturing company that pioneered the implementation of Agile practices in manufacturing, became a global sensation, and exhibited at international auto shows.

With Joe we talked about how he brought Wikispeed and its ideas to Europe over 10 years ago, touring around places and meeting people from the Ouishare network - of which both Stina and Simone have been part - during the heydays of the collaborative economy. We also widely discussed Joe’s engagement with Agile at Tesla and most of the key elements of vision and work culture at Musk’s companies. We also discussed the role of governments and how their contribution and sets of policies can be conducive to more innovation, and how they should see themselves more as test centers for innovation pathways.

This episode provides a great insider look into what it means to work in a company led by Elon Musk, double-clicking on key concepts such as modularity and cash flow, and why they are so essential to rapid innovation.

Key highlights:

👉 The Open Source approach to business

👉 Maximize cash flow as part of innovation

👉 The importance of data-driven performance in Musk companies

👉 The benefit of 12-hour shifts

👉 The importance of modularity to shorten innovation cycles

Topics (chapters):

00:00 Joe Justice’s opening quote

01:13 Intro and Joe Justice’s bio

02:57 When and how WikiSpeed arrived in Europe

08:33 What we can learn from the collaboration between Wikispeed and Tesla

14:18 Agile culture vs Policies and the role of government

49:15 Modularity as an approach

59:53 Joe’s breadcrumbs

01:03:59 Conclusion

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://boundaryless.io/podcast/joe-justice

To find out more about Joe’s work:

> Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeJustice

> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Joe.A.Justice

> Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joejustice

> Books: https://leanpub.com/u/joejustice

> Classes: https://www.abi-agile.com

> Agile World 2022 Keynote: "Tesla´s Secret Process for Rapid Innovation" Joe Justice: https://youtu.be/XTeZcQ9-Hr4

Other references and mentions:

> Ouishare: https://www.ouishare.net

> TEDxRainier - Joe Justice - WikiSpeed: https://youtu.be/x8jdx-lf2Dw

> Tesla Anti-Handbook Handbook: http://www.ceconline.com/PDF/Tesla-Anti-Handbook-Handbook.pdf

> DevOps: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/DevOps

> Paolo Sammicheli’s books https://paolo.sammiche.li

> Joe Justice’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JoeJustice0

Joe’s suggested breadcrumbs (things listeners should check out):

> Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/22446/zapp-the-lightning-of-empowerment-by-william-byham-phd-with-jeff-cox

> Commitment - a graphic novel about managing project risk https://commitment-thebook.com

> Great Courses Big History https://www.amazon.com/Great-Courses-Big-History-Humanity/dp/B07FD45QRD

> Learn anything to an extremely high level of skill: whether it’s pasta dishes or martial arts - choose anything and just go deep.

Recorded on 1 Dec 2022.

Get in touch with Boundaryless:

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast

> Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_

> Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts

> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundaryless-pdt-3eo

Music

Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music