ask

By Frank Snow Everything looked good as we started the first day of vibration tests on the High Energy Solar Spectrascopic Imager (HESSI).

By John Casani Getting to Jupiter would be no easy matter, even in the best of conditions — so when we set our schedule, we aimed at having our Galileo spacecraft ready in time to take advantage of a window of opportunity in early 1982, when celestial conditions would favor our mission.

By Dr. Alexander Laufer Coping with project uncertainty requires, at times, surprising solutions. I recall a story related to me by a project manager that illustrates just such a solution.

By Ed Hoffman A couple of years ago, I was sitting in my office talking with my Deputy Director Tony Maturo. We were in a contemplative mood, discussing NASA’s then-recent run of prominent project failures.

By Todd Post This issue of ASK we look at several projects that recovered from serious problems after a critical change was made in how they were managed.

  You’ve been with JPL for 41 years. What were some of the early lessons you learned from the project managers you worked under?

By Stephen J. Garber In the summer of 2002, I was asked to serve as interim chief historian for NASA until a permanent replacement was hired.

By Terry Little I have led six major defense acquisition programs during my civil service career.

By W. Scott Cameron I had been in a technical/project management assignment about two years, when one day my boss asked me to come to his office to “discuss an opportunity.”