solving problems without the noise

Modern engineering is full of distractions - legacy code, competing priorities, shifting business demands. It’s easy to get lost in the noise.

How often do you use hear this question behind every technical decision: why?

First principles engineering is about stripping a problem down to its core elements and building solutions from the ground up. It’s a mindset that can shape how teams work and how organisations innovate.

The Power of Why

The “why” question is deceptively simple, yet, it’s often the most neglected part of problem-solving. Asking why helps uncover the real issue you’re trying to address, not just the symptoms.

Take an example: Your team is experiencing slow deployment times. The obvious fix might be to optimize the CI/CD pipeline. But when you ask why the deployments are slow, you might find deeper issues… old and sluggish test frameworks, an overloaded cluster, or too many manual gates.

By addressing the root cause, you avoid applying a temporary patch and build a more sustainable solution.

First principles thinking starts with asking why until you’ve broken the problem down to its fundamental truths.

Applying First Principles

Employing first principles in your teams isn’t about throwing out existing processes - it can be just rethinking how you approach problems and decisions.

Here’s how to make it work:

Deconstruct Problems: Encourage your teams to break down challenges into their simplest components. Instead of tackling the problem as a whole, isolate the core issues and evaluate them individually.
Challenge Assumptions: Don’t let legacy processes or conventional wisdom dictate your approach. Ask if there’s a better way to solve the problem, even if it means disrupting the status quo.
Rebuild Solutions from Scratch: Once you’ve deconstructed the problem, design a solution that solves the fundamentals first. This ensures your team’s efforts are focused on long-term impact, not just quick fixes.

Imagine as a greenfield project you’re designing a new API.

Instead of starting with the tools or frameworks you’ve always used, step back and ask: What is the API’s core purpose? Who will use it? What constraints matter most?

These questions ground the solution in purpose, not preference.

First Principles Across the Organisation

First principles thinking shouldn’t stop with engineering teams. When applied across an organisation, it becomes a framework for collaboration and alignment.

Align Business and Tech Goals: Engineers often solve technical problems without understanding the business impact. First principles thinking helps bridge this gap by ensuring teams solve the right problems for the organisation.
Improve Cross-Team Collaboration: By focusing on fundamentals, teams can align more easily on priorities, reducing friction between product, engineering, and operations.
Drive Innovation: Breaking problems down to first principles opens the door to creative solutions that might not emerge within existing frameworks.

For example: when Tesla redesigned the battery for its electric vehicles, the team didn’t start with the conventional wisdom about batteries. They asked why batteries were built a certain way and rebuilt their approach based on first principles. The result? A lighter, cheaper, and more efficient design.

The same mindset can drive breakthroughs in software engineering, whether you’re refactoring a system, scaling a platform, or rethinking existing workflows.

Advocating for First Principles

Embedding first principles across your teams and organisation takes effort, but the rewards are worth it. Here’s how to advocate for this mindset:

Start Small: Apply first principles thinking to a manageable problem. Show how breaking it down and solving from the ground up leads to better outcomes.
Encourage Questions: Create a culture where asking “why” isn’t seen as pushback but as a way to clarify and improve decisions.
Lead by Example: As a leader, demonstrate first principles thinking in your own problem-solving. Share how you approach challenges and involve others in the process.

First principles engineering isn’t about adding complexity, but rather about removing unnecessary layers to provide clarity.

The Benefits of a First Principles Mindset

When engineering teams embrace first principles thinking, the results can be transformative.

Problems are solved faster because teams focus on the core issues.
Innovation becomes natural because solutions aren’t limited by assumptions.
Alignment improves because everyone understands the purpose behind decisions.

The most powerful tool an engineering organisation has isn’t always its frameworks or processes. It’s the ability to think critically and start from scratch when needed.