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Issue 24
CONTENTS
STORIES
INSIGHTS
DEPARTMENTS

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Issue 24 — Summer 2006

Contents

Stories

Goddard's SEED Program: Growing Systems Engineers

By the SEED Team with Don Cohen

The Goddard Systems Engineering Education Development program uses hands-on project experience to teach systems engineering expertise.
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Cassini-Huygens: International Cooperation for Astronomical Achievement

By Kerry Ellis

Collaborating with foreign space agencies has its own unique challenges.
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Unexpected Delays Equal a Chance to Innovate

By Hugh Woodward

When a priority project suddenly faces cancellation, a team avoids discouragement and uses the delay to test their ideas and improve the design.
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A Powerful Communication Tool: The Engineering White Paper

By James Wood

A chief engineer uses a white paper to test his logic and communicate effectively with other members of a technical review team.
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Featured Invention: Langley Soluble Imide

By Ben Bruneau

A happy accident creates one of the most versatile polymers available, and its uses are growing — even in the medical field.
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Gravity Probe B: Testing Einstein … with a Management Experiment?

By Edward S. Calder and Bradley T. Jones

Giving Stanford University management responsibility for the complex Gravity Probe B project was an experiment that uncovered important lessons about NASA collaborations with university prime contractors.
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University Collaborations: Teaching and Learning

By Kevin Vipavetz

One NASA project manager learns some of the dos and don'ts of working with university students.
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Insights

Leaders' Responsibility to Develop Future Leaders

By Gus Guastaferro

Project leaders need to ensure project success and provide career development opportunities for promising team members.
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Interview with Rex Geveden

By Don Cohen

In conversation with Cohen and Ed Hoffman, NASA's Associate Administrator talks about the importance of clear technical authority in the Agency and about how project managers develop their skills.
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Success Through Failure

By Henry Petroski

The noted engineering writer discusses how failure shapes good design and repeated success can ultimately lead to disaster.
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Sharing Responsibility for Risk

By Brent Robertson and Jerry Klein

One project takes risk management a step further by creating metrics to measure how successful risk management efforts have been.
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The “Fifth Dimension” of Program and Project Management

By William H. Gerstenmaier

A candid look at how politics and people's perceptions can influence a project's outcome.
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The Impact of Fear on Project Success

By Frederick Manzer

Fear may not make your employees work harder; it may actually cause them to hide the truth, which can lead to project failure.
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Departments

In This Issue

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From the Director
—Fostering Innovation: Necessity Is the Mother of Invention

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Knowledge in Brief
—Documents or Dialogue?

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ASK Bookshelf

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The Knowledge Notebook
—Don't Neglect Social Knowledge

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ASK Interactive

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Inside

Insight

Success Through Failure

By Henry Petroski

The noted engineering writer discusses how failure shapes good design and repeated success can ultimately lead to disaster.
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Insight

Interview with Rex Geveden

By Don Cohen

In conversation with Cohen and Ed Hoffman, NASA's Associate Administrator talks about the importance of clear technical authority in the Agency and about how project managers develop their skills.
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Story

Cassini-Huygens: International Cooperation for Astronomical Achievement

By Kerry Ellis

Collaborating with foreign space agencies has its own unique challenges.
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Editor: Laurence Prusak
NASA Official: Dr. Edward J. Hoffman
Last Updated: August 2006
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