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"Ach, damned engineers, what do they know about engineering!?" ~ Management, upon reading the memo. Actually, more realistically: "Brinton, do you know what t

"Ach, damned engineers, what do they know about engineering!?" ~ Management, upon reading the memo. Actually, more realistically: "Brinton, do you know what this Boisjoly guy is talking about?" "No Lund, I don't - his attitude is disappointing, we need team players." "Thanks Brinton - I'll bring it up with his manager for his next performance review."

krschultz 11y ago
It's easy to blame it on 'management', but it is important to note that author of the memo is himself a 'manager' at the time of writing the memo. There is way more depth to this situation than the simple hand waiving 'everyone that supervises me is stupid'.
sjm-lbm 11y ago
To be honest, I think you are - to an extent - falling into the same trap that the managers fell into at Thiokol: namely, assuming that your view of the situation is complete and that input from other work groups can be disregarded. In reality, it's a very big problem for companies to disappoint their large customers (as NASA certainly was for Morton-Thiokol at the time), and I suspect that the engineers would have been quite annoyed at management if the ultimate result of a launch no-go was fewer contracts, lower pay and/or job losses. This isn't to say that management did the right thing, of course, just that "lol management just throws some buzzwords around and never attempts to understand the problem" is basically the same attitude that caused this disaster - just seen from an engineering viewpoint.
- madaxe_again 11y ago
  I am "management" where I work, and I'd drive my company into the ground and make everyone unemployed, before I allowed my defective product to kill someone.
  - sebastos 11y ago
    Duh. You think a single person at NASA would have reported otherwise had you asked them before the Challenger disaster? Social pressure can influence people into engaging in wishful thinking. They made a horrible judgment call, and we should remember that that tragedy was authored by them. But if you think you NEVER would have fallen for it... you're not being self aware. There's a pretty decent chance you would have.
    - madaxe_again 11y ago
      The trick is to not give two hoots about social pressure. Being on the spectrum can be an asset.

krschultz 11y ago

It's easy to blame it on 'management', but it is important to note that author of the memo is himself a 'manager' at the time of writing the memo. There is way more depth to this situation than the simple hand waiving 'everyone that supervises me is stupid'.

sjm-lbm 11y ago

To be honest, I think you are - to an extent - falling into the same trap that the managers fell into at Thiokol: namely, assuming that your view of the situation is complete and that input from other work groups can be disregarded. In reality, it's a very big problem for companies to disappoint their large customers (as NASA certainly was for Morton-Thiokol at the time), and I suspect that the engineers would have been quite annoyed at management if the ultimate result of a launch no-go was fewer contracts, lower pay and/or job losses. This isn't to say that management did the right thing, of course, just that "lol management just throws some buzzwords around and never attempts to understand the problem" is basically the same attitude that caused this disaster - just seen from an engineering viewpoint.

madaxe_again 11y ago
I am "management" where I work, and I'd drive my company into the ground and make everyone unemployed, before I allowed my defective product to kill someone.
- sebastos 11y ago
  Duh. You think a single person at NASA would have reported otherwise had you asked them before the Challenger disaster? Social pressure can influence people into engaging in wishful thinking. They made a horrible judgment call, and we should remember that that tragedy was authored by them. But if you think you NEVER would have fallen for it... you're not being self aware. There's a pretty decent chance you would have.
  - madaxe_again 11y ago
    The trick is to not give two hoots about social pressure. Being on the spectrum can be an asset.