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Perfection Is in the Details—or Is It?

By Dr. Alexander Laufer After I earned my engineering doctorate at the University of Texas, I accepted a teaching position at Texas A&M University. By 1982, I was ready to return to the field and put principles to practice.

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From the APPEL Director: Remembering Frank Hoban

By Ed Hoffman Years ago, I interviewed for a job I wasn’t sure I wanted with a man who wasn’t confident he wanted me.

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In This Issue: What Is This Fourth Dimension?

By Todd Post Soon after we started publishing ASK, I heard from some of our NASA readers that we needed to feature more stories about managing research projects.

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ASK Talks with Dr. Michael Hecht

Dr. Michael Hecht has been a member of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) staff since 1982. He is currently Project Manager and co-investigator for the Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA).

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Implementation Reviews

By Gerald Murphy The biggest challenge in managing science instrument development or any new technology development for that matter is trying to get the project completed on schedule for the money you have.

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Lessons Learned Again and Again and Again

By W. Scott Cameron Recently I have sat through a variety of project critiques and have asked the teams involved to articulate their lessons learned on their projects.

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Project Management: The Television Show

By Terry Little Contrary to what my wife would say, I don’t watch much television. I do, however, regularly watch one show on the Learning Channel—the reality series called Trauma: Life in the E.R.

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Transfer Wisdom Workshops: Coming to a NASA Center Near You

By Denise Lee In November 2001, the APPL Knowledge Sharing Initiative introduced a new product, the Transfer Wisdom Workshop. The idea was to give practitioners at each of the NASA centers the opportunity to engage in a knowledge sharing activity.

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Grins & Giggles: The Launch Pad to High Performance

By Maj. Norman H. Patnode Long ago I observed that people get more things done when they’re having fun. At the time, I had no idea why. Now I think I have an answer.

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