1963, the first Porsche 911 was unveiled at the Frankfurt IAA Motor Show. It was known as the 901 at that time and was the successor of the Porsche 356.
It had an air-cooled 2-litre six-cylinder flat engine that had 130 horsepower and could hit a top speed of 210 km per hour.
Fast forward 50 years and many iterations and now the Porsche 911 Turbo S has a 3.8-litre six-cylinder engine with 641 horsepower and a top speed of 330 km per hour.
Tiny advances add up over time. It was Albert Einstein who was credited with saying that “compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”
It is also why German engineering helps make excellent cars like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche, among others. You know when you get into one of these machines that you are sitting in quality. People in small dimly lit rooms have meticulously studied every part of the car and made it just that little bit better.
It is also why things don’t change much. Look at the two cars below. They are very similar. One is much faster, more comfortable, and more reliable, but you can see they are close visually and strategically.
Does it make a better car?
All these changes do result in a better car than the previous version, but does it make it a better car?
The US has a different cultural make-up and is seen to be more innovative. This is attributed to why Tesla was made in the US and not by the Germans. They were solving different questions.
Telsa didn’t even invent the electric car. It was first invented in 1832 by Robert Anderson. The first really practical electric vehicles weren’t produced until the 1870s, so the technology has been around for a long time. Long enough that the Germans knew about it, but electrifying the vehicle was asking a different question.
What are you solving for?
The difference between the German approach and the US approach was simply they were answering different questions. The Germans were asking how can we make this component that little bit better. The US approach was should we even be making cars this way at all?
Are you trying to solve the problem at hand? Or should you be solving the problem so that it never happens again?
Do you look at the specific issue that is causing problems? Your employee is underperforming so you work with them around what they need to do to improve?
Or do you look at your recruiting policies to make sure you are hiring better candidates for your requirements?
You always have to ask yourself are you solving the right problem.
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe 