[SGVLUG] What went wrong with the Hubble Space Telescope (and what managers can learn from it)

[Braddock Gaskill]

On Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:29:37 -0700, Joel Witherspoon
<joel.witherspoon at gmail.com> wrote:
> An interview with Charlie Pellerin, the man in charge of the HST
project.
>
http://www.techworld.com.au/article/420036/what_went_wrong_hubble_space_telescope_what_managers_can_learn_from_it_/?

Less of an interview than a sales pitch for a "4D matrix leadership
system" on page five.

I don't really buy this leader responsible for a culture of stress falling
on his sword and then saving the day story.  

Of course there is going to be pressure on an ambitious project.  And of
course there is going to be risk of technical failure, and hindsight that
could have caught it.  

Should we have spent 30 years and $6 billion instead of 15 and 3?  Should
engineers function in a relaxed zen-like state of Dilbert-esque
detatchment?  Pellerin doesn't say except to pitch his consulting company's
secret sauce.

-braddock