On 02/22/2014 04:03 PM, Darrell wrote:
> http://www.linux-magazine.com/Issues/2013/157/Doghouse-Managing-Expectations
> 
> Especially the final paragraph.
> 

I've worked in both environments. At NASA, post 51-l, we spent more time
discussing and documenting what we were going to do, that it felt like nothing
ever got done. Demming's TQM and "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it"
was the mantra of the day. The BOP for station was a prime example. We worked
for the better part of a year developing the baseline operations plan on station
buildout, crew rotation and shuttle/soyuz launch rotation in what ultimately
culminated an a series of presentations and a 800+ page document destined to
gather dust in a filing cabinet on the second floor of building 4S at JSC.

I've also worked in very dynamic environments where you were in reaction mode to
whatever business came in the door to the point you felt like a ping-pong ball
after bouncing back-and-forth from project to project.

The truth is a good balance somewhere between the two extremes is the best
climate to work in. I've never put much stock in creating plans that end up
gathering dust, but it is important to keep a "strong hand on the tiller" to
keep any ship moving in the right direction. To do that you do not need a
pedantic checklist covering every step along the way, you need a good map and a
compass to guide you along the way.

TDE probably falls closer to the dynamic environment than the pedantic world,
but there has been a lot of very good work done to make sure there is a map in
place to keep things moving in the right direction. At any point along the way,
there is nothing wrong with pulling out the map and getting a plan together
about the best route between A-B, and I think we are at a good point to do that
regarding getting a plan together for how we want to travel the final leg to
reach R14.

Darrell, you know what you want to get done and into R14, Michele, Slavek, Tim,
Francios and me as well all have similar lists. I think what probably needs to
be done to get everyone traveling in the right direction is just to get those
lists together, add-to/remove-from as needed, and call that our plan for the
last leg of the R14 journey.

Good article.

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.