Frank Discussion of Problems
Lately I’ve been thinking about the failures in NASA’s 30-year-long Space Shuttle program (1981–2011). There were many, but of course the two biggest were the fatalities associated with Challenger and Columbia.
In both cases, the problems that ultimately brought down the shuttle orbiters (a leak in one of Challenger’s solid rocket boosters and a chink in Columbia’s heat shield) were topics that most of the people involved simply did not want to face.
This brings up a major element in continuing productivity and success: the need to be open and honest about problems and potential problems before they bring down the project or the entire organization.
After a potential problem becomes a real one, and after it has inflicted a large part of its damage, it’s usually easy to see what went wrong and why. But by then it’s too late.
Far better — and practically speaking, more important — is the ability to recognize problems and potential problems early enough to fix them, or at least to alter course sufficiently to avoid their largest negative effects. And the key to this recognition, of course, is the willingness to face unpleasant facts.
