Elon Musk: The Greatest Anti-Agile Agilist of All Time
When you think about Agile, you probably picture teams huddled around boards, sprinting through stories, running retros, and meticulously reviewing backlogs. It's a tried-and-true framework, honed through years of industry practice. But what if I told you the greatest Agilist of all time is Elon Musk—someone who doesn’t necessarily follow the traditional rules of Agile, yet consistently delivers the impossible?
Yeah, that Elon Musk. The guy who’s launching rockets with SpaceX, electrifying the auto industry with Tesla, revolutionizing payments with X (now PayPal), and dreaming up futuristic transport with The Boring Company. The man who’s made it his mission to land humans on Mars. To many, he's just a visionary, an innovator. But when you peel back the layers, he's also the best Agilist in the game. And here’s why.
The Art of Building Great Teams (and Letting Them Fly)
One of the hallmarks of Agile is empowering teams. You’re supposed to trust your people, give them ownership, and create an environment where they can be innovative without being held back by endless layers of bureaucracy.
Elon doesn’t just trust his teams—he unleashes them. He’s not hovering over every project, micromanaging every detail. He sets bold visions, hires some of the smartest people on the planet, and then gets out of their way. He lets them create. Whether it's building rockets that land themselves or developing electric cars that reshape the entire industry, Musk’s teams are like artists with an open canvas, painting the future.
Teams Design
Elon Musk structures his teams to maximize agility and innovation. He favors small, technical teams that are tightly knit, creating a vibrant workplace where each individual has direct ownership and responsibility over critical aspects of projects. These teams are highly connected, ensuring constant communication and collaboration, both horizontally and vertically.
Unlike traditional organizations where layers of management often slow progress, Musk actively engages in breaking down barriers. He steps in when roadblocks arise, using his influence and problem-solving skills to remove obstacles and keep the teams moving at full speed.
Musk ensures that teams can operate at their highest potential by cutting through red tape, sidestepping unnecessary meetings, and empowering engineers to focus on solutions rather than processes. In this sense, he acts as the ultimate obstacle remover—whether it’s tackling supply chain issues, securing resources, or dealing with regulatory challenges, he ensures nothing holds his teams back from reaching their ambitious goals.
Musk's involvement as a barrier remover aligns directly with the Agile principle of supporting teams so they can be effective without external interruptions. His ability to quickly respond to challenges, from production slowdowns at Tesla to rocket failures at SpaceX, is what keeps these highly specialized, small teams agile and capable of rapid iterations. By removing organizational or logistical impediments, Musk ensures that his teams remain focused on delivering results, not bogged down by unnecessary friction.
In a world where most companies bog themselves down with market research, endless projections, and fear of failure, Musk says, "Let’s do it." No hesitation. Just raw innovation. He’s mastered the art of setting the stage for creativity and allowing people the space to do their best work. It’s Agile on a cosmic level.
The Steve Jobs Parallels: Visionary Investment and Influence
You can’t talk about visionary leaders without mentioning Steve Jobs. Jobs was legendary for his focus on design and user experience, and for getting people to rally around great products. Musk is often compared to Jobs, but I’d argue that Musk has taken the baton and run even further with it. Like Jobs, he’s not the one doing all the work. He’s not the guy behind the keyboard coding, or the engineer building the rocket. But what he does is something just as important: he invests in great people and gives them the freedom to work their magic.
Even more so, Musk has a unique ability to attract investors—and not just in the financial sense. He gets people to invest in the future. Investors pour billions into Tesla, SpaceX, and his other ventures because they believe in the future Musk is selling. He creates narratives that pull people in, making them not just want the product, but the mission behind the product. In this sense, he’s a master Agilist. He creates a roadmap that everyone—employees, investors, and customers—wants to sprint toward.
Tesla on Steroids: A Master Agilist’s Mindset
Let’s take a look at what Agile values: responding to change over following a plan, individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Now, imagine those principles, but instead of being applied to software development, they’re applied to launching rockets or building autonomous electric cars.
Musk is a modern-day Nikola Tesla, but with one key difference: he seemingly gets more things done. Tesla had all the ideas, but Musk knows how to take those ideas, wrap them in marketable packages, and drive them through the hurdles. He’s brilliant at removing obstacles—whether it’s regulations, lack of resources, or logistical challenges—he finds a way to bulldoze through, so his teams can keep running at full speed.
And what’s more Agile than that? Instead of letting obstacles slow down velocity, he uses his influence to keep things moving. He doesn’t let bureaucracy grind innovation to a halt. While most teams get buried in red tape, Musk cuts through it. He’s like the Scrum Master to end all Scrum Masters, continuously removing impediments so his teams can do what they do best: innovate.
Is Musk Really That Agile?
Now, some might say Musk’s leadership style isn’t truly Agile. After all, he’s known for setting wildly ambitious deadlines and pushing teams to the limit. But I’d argue that’s exactly what makes him so effective. He embodies the essence of Agile: fail fast, learn fast, and pivot. And more importantly, he’s always pushing toward the future—something many Agile purists seem to forget.
At the end of the day, Agile isn’t about following a rigid framework or adhering to specific ceremonies. It’s about fostering creativity, responding to change, and driving innovation. And if we’re measuring success in those terms, then Elon Musk just might be the best Agilist of all time.
Musk's Mastery of Agility Through Continuous Innovation
At the heart of Agile is the idea of continuous improvement—the notion that you’re never truly done, and there’s always a way to do something better. Elon Musk lives this principle every day. Whether it’s through Tesla’s constant iteration of electric vehicle technologies or SpaceX’s relentless drive to perfect reusable rockets, Musk pushes his teams to evolve their products continuously.
Take Tesla, for example. Unlike traditional car manufacturers that release new models every few years, Tesla constantly updates its vehicles through over-the-air software updates, improving everything from battery performance to autopilot functionality. This Agile-like approach keeps the product alive long after it rolls off the production line, ensuring Tesla cars are always improving—just like a software team releases product iterations after each sprint.
This "continuous iteration" model is rare in the automotive industry, which has long been dominated by rigid, slow-moving processes. While traditional companies spend years designing new models before they're released, Musk has fundamentally reimagined what it means to build a car in the modern era. He’s brought software-like agility to an industry where change typically happens at a snail's pace. As a result, Tesla consistently outruns its competitors, redefining the auto industry in the process.
Upcoming Blog Post Sneak Peek:
The blog post will explain the importance of continuous improvement as a vision is developed and products are delivered. Consider the following quote by Steve Jobs:
“Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do." - Steve Jobs
Elon’s Culture of Risk-Taking: How He Embraces Agile’s Fail-Fast Mentality
Another key pillar of Agile is the fail-fast mentality: the idea that by experimenting early and often, you can learn from mistakes faster and iterate toward better solutions. Musk’s companies embrace this ethos fully, especially at SpaceX, where the development of the Starship rocket program has been a clear example of building, failing, and learning. Starship prototypes have exploded during tests, but these failures aren’t seen as setbacks; they’re viewed as opportunities to gather crucial data and make improvements.
Most companies fear failure. They pour endless resources into mitigating every possible risk before a product ever reaches a test phase. Musk takes a radically different approach. He pushes his teams to test early, test often, and fail quickly so they can gather critical information. The explosions during SpaceX’s rocket tests aren’t PR disasters—they’re learning experiences. Every failure brings the team closer to success. This mentality has led to SpaceX achieving something that seemed impossible just a few years ago: the development of reusable rockets that can land back on Earth, cutting launch costs drastically.
Musk’s willingness to embrace failure goes hand-in-hand with his Agile mindset. In his world, failure is just another word for feedback—a critical part of the process. He encourages rapid experimentation across all his companies, from SpaceX’s interstellar ambitions to Neuralink’s quest to merge the human brain with AI. While much can be discussed about the rationale behind Elon’s business-related actions, these bold ventures are guided by Musk’s belief that pushing the envelope means accepting that failure is inevitable and necessary.
Breaking Down Barriers: Removing Obstacles Like a True Scrum Master
Every Agilist knows that one of the most important roles in Agile is that of the Scrum Master—the person responsible for clearing obstacles & simplifying problems that slow a team’s progress. In this sense, Musk is the ultimate Scrum Master. His influence and ability to bulldoze through red tape are unparalleled.
For example, when Tesla struggled to meet production goals for the Model 3, Musk took matters into his own hands by rethinking the entire manufacturing process. He famously turned part of Tesla’s parking lot into a makeshift assembly line under a giant tent. This drastic move was a clear example of removing obstacles in real-time to maintain production momentum. Rather than waiting for bureaucratic solutions or months-long factory redesigns, Musk’s team adapted and iterated, keeping production on track and ultimately scaling Tesla’s output to meet demand.
Elon Musk’s approach to improving team efficiency and effectiveness can be distilled into five key steps:
Question the requirements: Always challenge assumptions and ensure the need for every action is clear.
Remove unnecessary process steps: Eliminate bureaucracy and streamline workflows.
Optimize: Focus on refining processes to make them as efficient as possible.
Accelerate: Speed up operations wherever possible to gain momentum and reduce time-to-market.
Automate: Once optimized, automate repetitive tasks to further enhance productivity and reduce human error.
These steps embody Musk’s relentless focus on cutting waste, enhancing speed, and driving innovation through lean and adaptive teams.
This ability to identify and eliminate obstacles in real-time is a critical part of why Musk’s companies succeed. He doesn’t wait for the perfect plan or the ideal conditions to act. He identifies the problem, gets his hands dirty, and removes the barrier. That kind of leadership is Agile at its finest—constantly assessing what’s slowing progress and clearing the way so teams can move forward.
Cultivating Innovation by Avoiding Micromanagement
Perhaps Musk’s most Agile trait is his ability to step back and let his teams do what they do best. In Agile, leaders are meant to empower their teams rather than control every aspect of the project. This is a core difference between traditional management and Agile leadership, and Musk exemplifies it by cultivating teams filled with some of the world’s brightest minds and giving them the freedom to solve problems in creative ways.
At Tesla, SpaceX, and his other ventures, Musk hires people who are not just talented but also passionate about the mission. Then, he lets them run. In an interview, Musk said, "If you're working on something exciting that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you." In his world, the product vision is so strong, and so compelling, that people are driven to achieve it without the need for constant oversight. This is a similar concept presented by Steve Jobs at Apple - consider the company as if it were an organization made up of startups.
This way of thinking doesn't mean that there isn't a vision or accountability... but it actually refines vision and enforces inter-team accountability! This approach is in stark contrast to the more typical corporate culture of micromanagement, where innovation often suffocates under the weight of bureaucracy and process. By giving teams the space to experiment, Musk not only drives innovation but fosters a culture where creativity can flourish, and that’s what true Agile is all about.
Elon Musk’s Team Building Contribution
Perhaps Elon Musk’s biggest, yet somewhat unrecognized, contribution is his ability to build teams that deliver results. He doesn’t just hire talent; he creates an environment where that talent can thrive. His approach is to structure small, specialized teams around clear, ambitious goals. Each team member knows their contribution matters, and that sense of ownership drives innovation and accountability. It’s not just about putting smart people together; it’s about fostering a culture where collaboration, speed, and a shared mission fuel every decision.
Musk’s obvious genius lies in his ability to connect these small teams (and as a result the general public) to the broader vision while ensuring they remain agile and adaptive. He understands that siloed departments slow progress, so he fosters a highly communicative, interconnected workplace. This connectivity ensures that technical teams aren’t bogged down by unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, allowing them to quickly adjust, pivot, and deliver results. Musk’s involvement as an “obstacle remover” makes sure that no external roadblocks impede the progress of these tight-knit teams, enabling them to achieve things previously thought impossible.
Elon Musk may not sit in daily standups or run retrospectives, but what he does is Agile in its purest form. He builds incredible teams, gives them the tools and space they need to innovate, and sets them loose to build the future.
He’s Agile on a scale that no one else is even attempting. Whether it’s getting us to Mars, making electric cars mainstream, or rethinking how cities are built, Musk is pushing humanity forward. And he’s doing it by empowering teams in the most Agile way possible: giving them the freedom to solve hard problems, and the bold vision to see them through.
So yeah, Elon Musk might just be the best Agilist of all time. And maybe, just maybe, it’s because he’s not trying to be Agile. He’s simply too busy building the future.
Additional References:
Tesla's Over-the-Air Software Updates: Continuous Improvement in Action, Forbes, August 2023.
SpaceX and the Fail-Fast Mentality: The Role of Prototyping in Rocket Science, TechCrunch, May 2022.
Elon Musk's Problem-Solving at Tesla's Model 3 Production Line, CNBC, July 2018.
Musk's Leadership Philosophy: Empowering Teams Through Vision, Fast Company, April 2021.
Tesla's Disruption of the Automotive Industry, The New York Times, September 2023.