Project Management: Are You Using the Right Stuff?

Steve Goo, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems

Steve Goo describes the Boeing Program Management Best Practices, an integrated management system the company has refined over the past ten years to enable programs of all sizes achieve high levels of performance and customer satisfaction. He discusses the importance of staying focused on the fundamentals, sharing lessons learned, and balancing new technologies with proven methods of program management as well as the essential elements of leadership and creating a culture of success.

24 minutes running time

Learning from Space Entrepreneurs

William Pomerantz, X PRIZE Foundation

On October 4, 2004, Brian Binnie piloted SpaceShipOne above 100 km, marking the third time ever—and the second time in as many weeks—that a civilian astronaut had taken a privately built craft to outer space. In doing so, Binnie and SpaceShipOne captured the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for Mojave Aerospace Ventures. Prizes like the Ansari X PRIZE and later efforts like the NASA-funded Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge and the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE exist to focus public attention and apply innovative new ideas to targeted technical problems. Equally, if not more, important are the innovative program management practices that come into play when extremely small and motivated teams put their own money on the line to win a prize. Program mangers at NASA and other government agencies can take important cues from the teams competing for prizes.

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53 minutes running time

Applying the Secrets of Hubble’s Success to Contellation

Frank Cepollina, Goddard Space Flight Center

Frank Cepollina is known as the “Father of On-Orbit Servicing” for his decades of leadership in repairing and upgrading satellites in orbit. The most famous of these is the Hubble Space Telescope. He is responsible for the on-orbit servicing and the development of new science instruments and replacement hardware that allow Hubble to stay on the cutting edge of technology throughout its long life, and he discusses how these experiences can help NASA better prepare for future missions and its Vision for Space Exploration.

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1 hour running time

Jump-Starting the Future

Apollo Legacy, Shuttle Lessons

G. Lee Norbraten, Johnson Space Center

The current NASA strategic initiative to return to the moon and go beyond has its heritage in both the Apollo and the Space Shuttle programs. The legacy of Apollo lies in the physics: the shape and size of the spacecraft and the path to the moon and back remind us strongly of Apollo because the laws of physics have not changed over the past forty years. The lessons of the shuttle lie in the programmatics—the delicate balancing of cost, schedule, and technical constraints in an environment where consensus is hard to reach and even harder to maintain. G. Lee Norbraten examines how the heritage of both the Apollo and shuttle programs provides a proper foundation for the future of human space flight. He also reviews the current status of the Space Shuttle program, including the issues presented by its planned retirement in 2010.

1 hour 3 minutes running time