First principles
First-principles thinking breaks a problem into its basic truths and rebuilds the solution from there, instead of copying what has always been done.
Key ideas
- Separate what must be true from what is merely customary.
- Constraints you accept without checking limit your options.
- Rebuilding from fundamentals often reveals simpler solutions.
Step by step
- 1
State the problem and the current approach.
- 2
List the assumptions behind the current approach.
- 3
Keep only what is truly fixed by facts or physics.
- 4
Design a solution from those fundamentals.
Example
A clinic assumes more patients need more doctors. Examining fundamentals shows that much of the delay is paperwork, which a scheduling change solves at lower cost.
Your drill
Pick one process at work that 'has always been done this way'. List its assumptions and mark which are truly fixed.
Common mistakes
- Discarding constraints that really are fixed.
- Using first principles for small decisions where conventions are good enough.
Check yourself
What is the first step of first-principles thinking?
Show the answer
Breaking the problem into its basic truths by identifying and questioning assumptions.
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