NASA SP-287 - WHAT MADE APOLLO A SUCCESS?
According to me some of the most interesting things to come out of the Apollo program were not only the tech but also the program management techniques. Here are my key takeaways from this incredible document on what made Apollo a success.
- A unified commitment to achieving an ambitious goal (landing on the Moon).
- Open and transparent communication channels fostered collaboration and knowledge sharing.
- Shared values and beliefs fostered a supportive and high-performing environment
- Build it simple and then double up on the components so that if one fails the other one can take over.
- Keep the interface boundary small and simple for one person to understand.
- Automation is best used for tedious, repetitive tasks and observability is key for the user to make corrections in the automation if required.
- The most important factor that provides the high degree of reliability is the depth and breath of testing. Detailed analysis of failures & anomalies help build experience and confidence in the systems.
When resolving issues try answering these questions:
- Have we made this error anywhere else?
- What happens when we fix the bug?
- How can we change to make this bug impossible?
- Minor failures or discrepancies should be investigated and understood, this leads to predictable systems.
- Focus on achieving desired outcomes over rigid adherence to procedures.