A 黑料大事记 Camps Alumni鈥檚 take on Agility and Teamwork
By Sandy Marshall, 黑料大事记 Camps Alumni
This past summer, I was thrilled to be selected by NASA Social to attend the SpaceX Falcon Heavy鈥檚 first-ever night launch at Kennedy Space Center. The mission, designated as STP-2, ferried new tech and experiments ranging from greener rocket fuel to a Deep Space Atomic Clock. Over the course of two days, our group of space enthusiasts and journalists toured NASA facilities, met with mission engineers, and then waved goodbye as the Falcon Heavy ignited the sky at 3 in the morning.
Though most of the event focused on the technical aspects of launching satellites into space, I was eager to learn about the human dynamics at play: having spent a career at the intersection of business and improvisation, I鈥檝e always been fascinated with NASA鈥檚 deep roots in the 鈥淵es, And鈥︹�� methodology. (After all: is there a more collaborative call-to-action than JFK鈥檚 Moonshot speech from 1961?)
As you might imagine, our group was struck by the ensemble-like spirit among scientists who 鈥渨alk the walk鈥� in an environment of collaboration, and the surprising applications between space exploration and everyday teamwork.
鈥淓very project here starts as a collaboration.鈥�
When presenting mission briefings, several experts from various disciplines across NASA, NOAA, JPL, SpaceX, and Aerojet Rocketdyne (among others) mentioned this phrase. When discussing their roles, engineers spoke more about the people and teams they supported, and less about their own personal projects. The takeaway? When you鈥檙e working as a team, your project has a greater chance of success if you鈥檙e making a genuine effort to set-up your teammates for the win.
鈥淎gility is Key鈥�
Another insight from NASA engineers was to 鈥淏e ready for anything.鈥� Expecting the unexpected in agile environments requires countless hours of preparation along with support, trust, and respect. This enables people to navigate high-pressure situations with a calm, collected demeanor. In the case of STP-2, the weather forced a launch delay into the wee hours of the night. How did everyone react? Like it was business as usual.
鈥淲E are Go for Launch鈥�
We鈥檝e heard this phrase over and over鈥nd though launch excitement focuses on the words 鈥淕o鈥� or 鈥淣o-Go,鈥� we often forget the most important word in this famous phrase: 鈥淲e.鈥澛�
As one NASA scientist said: 鈥淣o matter what you鈥檙e striving to do, if you don鈥檛 cooperate, it won鈥檛 work.鈥� Space exploration is similar to any other business environment: we often focus on technical innovation, new products, and the next big thing鈥�
But at the end of the day?
It鈥檚 all about the people.