First Principles Thinking: Questioning from the Bottom Up

One day, our team discovered a screen that had been neglected for a year.
The neglected screen was an important screen in the signup flow.

The PO left a Slack message stating that the screen was not appealing and that it should be improved.

In Search of Better Copy

Upon seeing this Slack message, I pondered how to find better copy.

I brainstormed new copy ideas, including things like emphasizing better service than remittance, highlighting benefits users could receive, and incorporating branding stories.
I came up with various ideas for new copy.

Despite coming up with several ideas, I ultimately didn't share them with the team.
This was because I felt my ideas wouldn't solve the problem at hand.

While wrestling with these thoughts, I felt like I wasn't able to help the team, and I started to feel a sense of self-reproach. Then, I suddenly remembered
Elon Musk's First Principles Thinking.

First Principles Thinking

First Principles Thinking, a concept that sparked a lightbulb moment in my head!
This way of thinking, which Elon Musk is also known to frequently use, is quite interesting. What exactly is it?

Elon Musk's First Principles Thinking

Let's find out through Elon Musk's interview video.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For those short on time, I've extracted the portion of the video that discusses First Principles Thinking.

People were saying, "Battery packs are very expensive and will always be, because they have been in the past."

But that’s just a ridiculous statement.
Because if you apply past reasoning to create something new, you’ll never create anything new.

People told me that$600 per kilowatt-houris the cost, and that it wouldn't change much in the future.
But I thought,

What are batteries made of? What are the market prices of those components?
They are made of cobalt, nickel, aluminum, carbon, etc.
If I buy these components at the London Metal Exchange, how much will it cost?
Oh, it only costs $80 per kilowatt-hour?

This is how you think about the cost of a battery.
Through this way of thinking, I was able to make the cheapest batteries available today.

Through this interview, I gained a rudimentary understanding of First Principles Thinking.

When creating something new to solve a problem, let's start by questioning the very foundation of that problem.
The core of First Principles Thinking is thinking from the essence of the problem.

Deconstructing the Doit Service with First Principles Thinking

Now that I have a basic understanding of First Principles Thinking, let's try it out.

Let's take the popular Doit Delivery App,
I've tried to break down Doit's group delivery service using First Principles Thinking.

Delivery fees are so expensive these days. Is there a way to reduce them?

Q1. Why do I have to pay a delivery fee?
A1. Because we need to pay the delivery driver.

Q2. Why does the delivery driver get paid?
A2. Because they deliver food from the restaurant to my house.

Q3. So, if the restaurant and the destination are the same, is the delivery fee the same regardless of how much food is ordered?
A3. Hmm... Unless the order is too large to deliver, they won't charge more for the delivery fee.
They even sometimes give discounts on the delivery fee if you order a lot of food!

Then, what if I order from the same restaurant as my neighbor? Could I only pay the delivery fee once?
Furthermore, if I place a group order with neighbors who want the same food, we can save on delivery fees.

Reducing delivery fees inherently has its limitations.
This is because delivery fees are directly related to the commission paid to the delivery drivers.

Doit solved the problem of reducing delivery fees through group deliveries.
They maintained the commission paid to the delivery drivers and didn't unfairly burden restaurants with the delivery fees.

To come up with such innovative solutions, you need to delve deep into the issue of delivery fees.
Question the very foundation of the problem and keep asking questions.

First Principles Thinking helps us to ask questions from the bottom up regarding the problem we want to solve.
(Conclusion: First Principles Thinking is amazing!)

Now, Let's Put It into Practice

I wanted to apply First Principles Thinking, which I learned from Elon Musk, to my actual work.
Let's return to our team.

Thinking about the Team's Problem with First Principles Thinking

What was the problem our team wanted to solve?
It was to improve the neglected screen in the signup flow.

Let's try applying First Principles Thinking here.

We need to improve the screen in the signup flow.

Q1. Why is this screen necessary? What are we trying to achieve with this screen?
A1. The signup process is long and complicated, so we wanted to show the value the service can provide before the signup flow begins to increase the signup rate.

Q2. Okay, but has this screen actually increased the signup conversion rate? Have you validated the metrics?
A2. Hmm... I don't remember. We need to validate whether the signup conversion rate changes depending on whether the screen is present or not.

Q3. The purpose of this screen is to introduce the services that customers find appealing before they sign up, right?
A3. That's right.

Q4. So, what are the services that our customers find appealing?
A4. We have a service-specific dashboard where we can checkretentionrates for different services.

I repeatedly questioned why we needed to improve this copy and why the screen was necessary in the first place.
Through this process of relentless questioning, I was able to reach the bottom of the problem.

Then, I rebuilt my understanding from the bottom up, starting with the answers to my questions.
By answering each question one by one, I was able to arrive at two conclusions.

Does the screen actually increase the signup conversion rate? If not, let's remove it completely.

We can extract the appealing services from the dashboard and use them as copy to introduce the service.

Sharing with the Team

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After that, I shared my findings with the team, including the questions and answers I'd generated.
Sharing the context of the questions and answers along with the conclusions makes it easier for team members to understand my thinking.

Thankfully, my explanation resonated with the team. (Whew!)

In Conclusion

Since the work I do at the company is confidential, I'll wrap things up here.
There were three main points I wanted to convey through this lengthy post.

1. First Principles Thinking is a way of thinking that involves building up answers one by one from the very bottom of a problem.
2. You can never create anything new if you apply past reasoning.
3. Continuously ask yourself questions about the problem you want to solve, until you feel you've reached the very bottom.

Consciously Questioning and Doubting

Humans tend to rely on vaguely known facts or past experiences as a matter of habit.
This tendency makes it easier for us to navigate the world.
Just like we don't usually question why we need to eat or sleep before we do those things.

This tendency can become habitual if we don't pay attention to it.
This is despite the fact that fundamentally examining problems is crucial for innovatively solving problems in the world.

Let's intentionally disregard this habitual reliance.
Let's consciously question and doubt things down to their very foundation. That is First Principles Thinking.