Case Studies
Case studies illustrate the kinds of decisions and dilemmas managers face every day, and as such provide an effective learning tool for project management. Due to the dynamic and complex environment of projects, a great deal of project management knowledge is tacit and hard to formalize. A case study captures the complex nature of a project and identifies key decision points, allowing the reader an inside look at the project from a practitioner's point of view.
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Redesigning COBE
The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite was slated to launch on the Space Shuttle in 1989, but the loss of the Challenger on January 28, 1986 changed everything. The COBE team was forced back to the drawing board: it had to find a new way to get COBE into orbit.
Governance Model in Action: The New Horizons RP-1 Tank Decision Case Study
Four months before the planned launch of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, the manufacturer of the launch vehicle reported that its fuel tank experienced a failure during the final stages of qualification testing. The questions raised by this failure ultimately presented a test case for NASA's new governance model for resolving difficult technical issues.
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Gravity Probe B Case Study
In the summer of 2003, the Gravity Probe B spacecraft arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base for integration and testing to prepare for launch. As NASA and its contractor teams from Stanford and Lockheed Martin checked its various systems, engineers turned their attention to a problem with the Experimental Control Unit (ECU), a box that housed a number of electronic components. The resolution of this very specific technical issue ultimately required a decision that only the program manager could make.
SSCS Case Study
The Space-to-Space Communications System (SSCS) is a sophisticated two-way data communication system designed to provide voice and telemetry among the Space Shuttle orbiter, the International Space Station, and the space suit worn by an astronaut during a space walk. SSCS was an “in-house” development: NASA personnel designed the system, and a contractor manufactured the radios. When the contractor built the radios as designed, there were serious technical performance problems. What were the project manager’s options?
Viking Case Study
The primary objective of the Viking science mission was the stuff of dreams: to determine if there was evidence of life of Mars. One instrument that was critical to achieving the mission's scientific objectives was a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GCMS). Three years into the development of the GCMS, it was not at all clear that the instrument would ever be completed. What could the project manager do to bring this instrument back into the fold?
TIMED Case Study
The TIMED mission was conceived as an ambitious multi-spacecraft mission, but it launched as a single-spacecraft mission. The program got caught in the dramatic changes that NASA went through at the time. At one point TIMED came close to termination. How would you have dealt with a mission de-scope? What lessons did the team learn?
EOSDIS Case Study
The Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), was started as part of the Earth Observing System (EOS) to collect, process, distribute, and archive the large amount of data that was to be generated by the EOS program and to archive and distribute NASA Earth science data generally. Today, it serves more than 2 million users per year. Why is it so important to control expectations and tell the truth about capabilities?
VCL Case Study
The Vegetation Canopy Lidar (VCL) was scheduled for launch in January 2000. It promised to provide for the first time key inputs for climate modeling and predictions. Everyone wanted VCL to succeed. Why has the mission still not flown? Why was the brilliance of its proposed science overshadowed by its flawed management and instrument technology development plans?
MSTI Case Study
Miniature Seeker Technology Integration (MSTI) went into orbit November 21, 1992. The spacecraft was the first of its kind -- a rapid development spacecraft, designed and launched in one year. Five years later, the MSTI Team reflected on the long-lasting effects and changes that came about in each of their organizations as a result of MSTI. What made the most sense from an overall project point of view?
AGATE Case Study
Advance General Aviation Transportations Experiments, AGATE, became the turning point for general aviation. AGATE is a unique partnership between government, industry, and academia established to develop new ways of reviving the troubled general aviation industry. Why was the need for collaboration so important to the success of AGATE?
High Speed Research Case Study
The High Speed Research (HSR) program addresses the highest priority, highest risk technologies for a High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). The HSR program is intended to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the vehicle; the decision to proceed with full-scale development will be up to industry. Why was it so important that teams worked well together?
NEAR Case Study
As you work through the NEAR case study, think of the project from an organizational and managerial standpoint. If you were the project manager, how would you make this mission faster, better, cheaper? How would you inspire your team to do the same?
IMAGE Case Study
The pioneering MIDEX mission, IMAGE, was a challenge from the start. A tiny budget met spiraling requirements, till it became clear that the craft was creaking under its payload. How would you have reined in costs to save the mission? How did they?
WIRE Case Study
The Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) mission was meant to study the formation and evolution of galaxies. But shortly after launch, a digital error sent the Small Explorer craft tumbling wildly through space. The subsequent investigation explained how the problem happened, but did it explain why?
