Importance of task decomposition

Any seemingly difficult task can actually be decomposed layer by layer and eventually become the resource needed to complete the task.

Speaking of task decomposition, I think of Musk, who is really a master of task decomposition. He set a very ambitious goal at that time:

It takes about 80 days to take 200 passengers to Mars by spaceship at a time. Through about 20 50 trips to Mars, a completely self-sufficient city can be established on Mars. It is estimated that after 40 100 years, there may be 10000000 people living and reproducing on Mars.

This goal seems impossible, but how does Musk make it possible bit by bit through task decomposition?

Musk first realized that the biggest problem of Martian immigrants seems to be science and technology, but in the final analysis, it is money. Only with money can there be various immigration technologies and equipment.

So, how much does it cost to go to Mars once?

1 person needs about 10 billion dollars, an astronomical figure!

Most people may give up when they see this, but Musk continues to think about how to reduce the cost of one person's $654.38+00 billion to an acceptable level. He probably estimated that if a person can spend $200,000 to go to Mars, many people should be willing to enjoy a space trip before they die.

In other words, the task of emigrating to Mars is decomposed into "reducing the cost of a single trip to Mars from $654.38+0 billion to $200,000". How to achieve it? Musk continued the task decomposition, and he identified four core task decomposition directions:

First, let the rocket be reused.

Previous rockets were scrapped after one use, which was too expensive. If it can be recycled, the cost will be greatly reduced. In 2002, Musk founded Space X Company, which is dedicated to recycling rockets. When everyone was calling him crazy, in 20 18, he sent a Tesla sports car into space with a rocket, and the booster landed successfully.

Second, let the spacecraft refuel in space orbit.

Spacecraft need a lot of fuel to reach Mars. If the cabin is filled when launching, the load of the rocket will be very large and the cost will be very high. Therefore, Musk believes that the booster will be used to send the spacecraft into space first, and then the booster will return to land to load fuel, and then fly back to orbit to supply the spacecraft. This method greatly reduced the weight of the spacecraft for the first time and reduced the cost of flying the spacecraft to Mars.

Third, make fuel on Mars to achieve fuel self-sufficiency.

If the returned fuel is made on Mars, it can also solve the fuel loading problem and reduce the launch cost again.

Fourth, choose the best fuel.

After comparing almost all available fuels, including hydrogen and oxygen, kerosene and so on. Musk finally thinks that methane is the best choice because it is easier to manufacture on Mars.

You see, Musk turned a fable into a solvable problem through task decomposition. Like a fool, he did something that others thought impossible, but it was this task decomposition that made fable a possible goal.

This shows that the importance of task decomposition is the same in the workplace. The ability to break down problems is the ability to solve them.

The more impossible the task is, the more attention should be paid to task decomposition. Through decomposition again and again, a subtask is completed, and finally the purpose of solving the problem is achieved.

What level of problems you can decompose, you are what level of employees, which is also your core competitiveness in the workplace.