Book of the Month
Glen Alleman MSSM
Applying Systems Engineering Principles, Processes & Practices to Increase Probability of Program Success for Complex System of Systems, in Aerospace & Defense, Enterprise IT, and Process and Safety Industries
This book speaks to NASA'a Lessons Learned for managing knowledge, people, and projects.
A project is a basic unit of work in many organizations.
Software development, road and building construction, drug development, and launch-ready spacecraft.
I've worked in program planning and controls on several launch-ready spacecraft in my career.
Hubble Robotic Service Mission, Orion (original Crew Exploration Vehicle), to name some recent ones. After leaving Rocky Flats as a Program Manager, I joined a proposal management firm on programs at Lockheed Martin here in Denver. I was new to the space vehicle business.
It was a life-changing experience after the experience at Rocky Flats, which can be found in Making the Impossible Possible, where we had a deadline. In the launch vehicle business, deadlines are part of the everyday culture.
One experience that tells the story was to watch - via TV - the flight of the last Ttian out of Vandenburg, CA. The flight vehicle was an NRO camera that could read the time on your watch in real time at night. In his steady voice, the range safety officer announced there would be a short delay in the launch. Then told them that the third stage, an Athena (2nd stage was a Boeing vehicle), would be run for longer.
I turned to my colleague and asked why are they doing that (I needed to gain experience in launch vehicle operations). He said they're going to make of the time; the NRO wants a picture over Bagdad at a specific time. Oh, I said. And he concluded We're Lockheed Martin, and we're never late.
领英推荐
In the building we worked in, Waterton, there was a banner in the lobby that said 100% Mission Success. That's the culture in the space flight business. You can only go to Mars in a 3-week window every 26 months - miss the launch window; you own the spacecraft in your hermetically sealed building for the next opportunity.
This book is about how that culture came about and the paradigm shift from the Challenger and Columbia accidents to move away from the traditional projects management culture and focus on the human dimension of learning, collaboration, teaming communication, and culture.
Some in the agile community would lay claim to these concepts, but you're not going to close the second-worst toxic waste site on the planet or get on your way to Mars if you don't start with these principles.
Micro Principles
Macro Principles
For anyone looking to see how program success works, this is a good example.