David JenynsAuthor & Founder of SYSTEMology® & systemHUB.

Launch Systems That Last Like Satellites

Name: Launch Systems That Last Like Satellites
Uploaded: 2024-12-06T23:00:28+00:00
Duration: 25 s
Channel: David Jenyns
Description: Speaker (David Jenyns) uses a satellite-as-metaphor to argue for investing heavy upfront effort to create durable systems: like launching a satellite…

6 Dec 2024 · 0 min

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0:25

Speaker (David Jenyns) uses a satellite-as-metaphor to argue for investing heavy upfront effort to create durable systems: like launching a satellite that requires a lot of energy to get into orbit but then keeps circulating for decades, a well-built system pays dividends for many years. The clip emphasizes choosing projects that require one-time intensive work to yield long-term, low-maintenance returns.

How much energy does it take for a satellite to orbit the Earth? It's free. Once it's up in orbit, it just goes around forever. For 20 years, it just keeps going around. So there's a lot of energy or inertia to get that satellite up into orbit, and then it's in orbit forever. So I like putting systems in place that are like launching a satellite, that if I work really hard on this one system, it's going to pay dividends for 20 years. That's a good system.