The Show must go on...

A little bit of Panic  

Panic - The Smiths
I can't put my finger on it but, there seems to be a little panic in the engineering community at the moment. The need to do more for less is not new, in fact there's not much new in most of the current developments. However it is getting difficult to get new people in  For some reason the highly experienced community are pulling back and instead of reassuring and leading, they are retiring or changing career. 

Options and Possibilities. 

For new recruits the reality is that the work pace is so fast due to cutbacks and understaffing that only the swiftest can keep up. Retention is proving difficult even in the current climate. First to leave were women who couldn't find an acceptable work life balance or sufficient flexibility after having had children to be able to continue their career. In software we have been more accepting of team members with versions often not classified as autism and aspergers but it is getting more difficult for them to be selected for the new teams due to the pressure,lack of support or just understanding. As the intellectual community talks of ethics and diversity, the man on the street as a result of economic crisis, is becoming more demanding and less accepting. This attitude reflects a retreat from risks, real or perceived means a very real shutting down of options and possibilities. A cult of individualism believes that it is possible to exist and heroically achieve great things alone, that it is not necessary or inadvisable to get involved with the community, and in some cases this is believed to be detrimental to the individual. When an individual has good health, and a good source of income, and little dependencies, this system of belief may prevail.

If all the world is a stage..

A cult of individualism looks for a hero or a star. I have worked with heroic and brilliant engineers and also some excellent stage actors that had incredibly powerful star charisma. Although both can make a good project excellent, neither could replace the structure required to ensure a productions success. A good project like a theatrical production is a complicated organic and willful beast.  To explain the need for cross discipline teams and high engagement, I keep looking for answers in the arts, in particular the theatrical spectacular. Having been involved in amateur dramatic productions in the past in different roles actor, stage manager, director, set-painter. I am still in awe of how many hours of effort is put in by so many, to bring a performance to the stage for sometimes just one one evening.

Prepare to Recover 

One play - (which i have mentioned in a previous blog) had so many setbacks including the loss of venue, players,illness and romantic liaisons it seemed  a good outcome was impossible. Even now I am not sure how it succeeded but I do know it was not myself that "pulled the rabbit out of the hat". It was the most disparate group of people I had ever worked with, - well almost ;) - from opinionated pensioners to sulking six year olds, who at the start were not particularly easy to get on with. At the end, we had a full house on all three nights with the highest praise from the author himself. What was interesting of course is that no-one was paid anything to do this. In fact people mostly covered their own expenses and gave their time for free.

Big Community

So what relevance does this have to space. Space is not the "big community" referred to by politicians looking for free support services, although some do volunteer their time for free, people also have to be paid in order to make a living. Space has a community in the real sense with diverse groups of stakeholders and part of it is the space industry, it must be able to pay its way, there must be the ability for people to get paid work in space. Having said that for most people I know that work in space, they are not there for the money.

Lessons Learned The Hard Way

So if there are lessons to learn it would be for me the following, the space industry is a creative industry, therefore all the planning in the world cannot always predict the kind of problems that will arise in new technology projects. Developing the ability to recognise and recover from errors or mistakes of judgement as quickly as possible is essential. I have also found the following advice very useful.

• Limit the expectation from the individual. 
• Make it possible for people to contribute in the way that they want in the amount they can.  
• Have a plan and be prepare to change it when its wrong. 
• Keep saying thank you, you should never underestimate the effort that people are making, most people have other responsibilities than your activity.
• Don't make assumptions about anything, in particular technical or creative meanings- "get it from the horses mouth" as they say.   
• Make sure everyone gets something out of it. Even if you don't get a moment in the limelight your contribution should be recognised by the community.
• Talk about and advertise what you are doing. Never pass up the chance to tell people about what you are doing and how you would like them to get involved. It is important to share your enthusiasm.
• Be careful about the non-negotiable - if you find yourself in central role, don't bet everything on one project this includes your family/your health. Space industry complexity relies on you having more than one project to refine your skills.
• Some teams you work with, have different tools, deadlines and languages, the skill is to ask them to translate the important things they want you to know well, and for you to translate your stuff in a suitable accessible format for them.

Finally..

• Always remember why you are still working in this industry, people such as musicians, writers & actors amateur and professional alike, believe their work is highly important, work in the space industry has significant importance to understanding how to protect humanity, as space workers we need to put in the best performance that we can in whatever circumstances that are thrown at us, humanity requires it -  the show must go on.

The Show Must Go On..