August 2025

Simplified, just like rocket science.

by Mary Ryan

I’m not necessarily a fan of SpaceX or the billions spent on spending a few weightless minutes in space (subtext: jealousy). But I can’t argue that some of the stuff they do is a bit cool. And they undoubtedly have some smart folks working there. I mean, they actually are rocket scientists, doing actual rocket science.

I was recently reading about a concept adopted at SpaceX (and have been enjoying the related engineering memes ever since).

As a legal operations professional, the idea resonates. And it’s all about relentless simplification.

Christopher Gebhardt (SpaceX) explains it best: “We like to continuously improve our designs by eliminating the parts we don’t need. We call this applying the algorithm, and that helps us simplify designs and drives us toward rapid, reliable reuse.”

The algorithm is a 5-step process for improving design, making things (rocket engines) easier to manufacture (thereby faster), and finding ways to optimise the process overall:

1. Challenge the requirements – start from the position that everything is dumb, and make it less dumb (adopting language used by SpaceX, that I personally enjoyed)

2. Delete a part or process step – look at the full value chain of what you’re working on and eliminate any unnecessary elements

3. Continual simplification – Find additional opportunities to simplify or optimise the design

4. Speed – find more ways to go faster (e.g. adding more stations means manufacturing faster)

5. Automate – this step is deliberately last – don’t automate something that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Rinse and repeat, and never stop rinsing and repeating. There is always more opportunity for improvement.

Okay so we may not be rocket scientists (…not today anyway), but we can learn a lot from how they go about things.

Their focus on simplification and refinement reflects how the Front Foot team approaches new initiatives and tools in legal operations — whether it’s an app, a self-service tool, a playbook, a contract, a team process, or even how things are expressed.

Challenge everything. Delete any unnecessary elements. Find ways to make it better, faster. Automate or template whatever you can. Then start the process over.