Why are Individuals So Important To the NASA Project Teams?
Why are individuals so important to the NASA project teams?
People are the most important thing NASA has got as asset, they are things that make a program so successful, these people are form the social capital of the organization. Indeed, the most important builders of these social capital networks in organizations are the experiences people have working together overtime. In an organization like NASA, where most work is project work, being part of a series of project teams with overlapping but changing membership creates opportunities to form lasting relationships that are career-long sources of knowledge and assistance and also opportunities to spend time with people involved in similar work at conferences and workshops that help build these personal networks. So the individuals are very important to the personal development of each member and to the development of the team work.
Another individual that is very important in NASA is the project manager, in this specific organization, this person is the one who tell their team members what needs to be done and when it needs to be finished however they leave the how up to them. Therefore there is a kind of freedom and more initiative from team members.
There is no successful project without the project managers because it’s the leader. Thus, the PM must understand all aspects of the project, its goals, requirements, challenges and risks. He must deal with people and problems continuously and must evaluate the risk involved with each decision. He must then be respected by all team members and earn this respect, even though he can have a hard time motivating the kind of coordinated and cooperative effort needed to achieve success.
What is the lessons learned program and how might it relate to better project management at NASA?
Successful organizations develop systems to share information from past successes and failures as part of their knowledge management practices. NASA defines these lessons learned as
People are the most important thing NASA has got as asset, they are things that make a program so successful, these people are form the social capital of the organization. Indeed, the most important builders of these social capital networks in organizations are the experiences people have working together overtime. In an organization like NASA, where most work is project work, being part of a series of project teams with overlapping but changing membership creates opportunities to form lasting relationships that are career-long sources of knowledge and assistance and also opportunities to spend time with people involved in similar work at conferences and workshops that help build these personal networks. So the individuals are very important to the personal development of each member and to the development of the team work.
Another individual that is very important in NASA is the project manager, in this specific organization, this person is the one who tell their team members what needs to be done and when it needs to be finished however they leave the how up to them. Therefore there is a kind of freedom and more initiative from team members.
There is no successful project without the project managers because it’s the leader. Thus, the PM must understand all aspects of the project, its goals, requirements, challenges and risks. He must deal with people and problems continuously and must evaluate the risk involved with each decision. He must then be respected by all team members and earn this respect, even though he can have a hard time motivating the kind of coordinated and cooperative effort needed to achieve success.
What is the lessons learned program and how might it relate to better project management at NASA?
Successful organizations develop systems to share information from past successes and failures as part of their knowledge management practices. NASA defines these lessons learned as