fire drill

[jay]

Is what we call a sudden flurry of activity, often with some decision at stake. Here, I had 25 minutes to come up with several information technology projects that would be harmed if our Arctic field season was cancelled. Thanks to a bunch of phone calls, contacts, a hallway conversation and x.500, I found two more (plus my own), wrote them up with substantiating information, principal investigators, and sent this all off just in time. One of the projects was one I'd never heard of before... I'm fast. And good at marshalling arguments and people in last-minute, high-stress efforts. (blows virtual smoke from fingertips ;)

We are now better than 50/50 to get funding, IMO. Tomorrow's the drop-dead date.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

Brian, sometimes you are quite frighteningly competent at what you do. And I do mean that as a sincere compliment, in case it's not clear.

If I ever end up working on a project that's anywhere near you, I want to have you on my side, ok? :)

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Why, thanks! I have an excellent success rate, if I do say so myself. At least in the real world, less so personally.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

I don't doubt your competence at this kind of this, but this is a totally f**king stupid way to run an organisation.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Hurry-up-and-wait... last-minute opportunities... nebulous policies becoming firm and clarified when deadlines are nearly past... ill-defined proposal requirements. None of them efficient, granted, but in my stint in a large company (Lockheed) it was just as bad...

And personally, I *enjoy* being on the edge of things, having success or failure rest on one call or ten minutes' margin.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

You may enjoy it, but don't you think that this is not the way to make intelligent decisions about scientific and engineering issues? These are deterministic things, and should not rely on who's friends with who, who happens to be in the office when the phone rings etc..

It would all seem to be symptomatic of an overly macho management culture which will (and probably does) breed mistakes and bad decisions.

Yes, ESA has its own deficiencies, but I'm unaware of any last minute messing around like this. I've seen missions teetering on the brink, depending on final meetings and deadlines, but this was *years* before anything flew or any hardware got built.

With this level of adrenalin dependency at work, is it any wonder that your home life seems boring? Has NASA made you a thrill junky, I wonder?

And I stand by my original point - its a fuc*ing stupid way to run an organisation - NASA or Lockheed!