Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site mmm.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!mmm!mrgofor From: mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR) Newsgroups: net.columbia Subject: Re: Paranoia Message-ID: <602@mmm.UUCP> Date: Fri, 14-Mar-86 10:13:08 EST Article-I.D.: mmm.602 Posted: Fri Mar 14 10:13:08 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 16-Mar-86 09:59:17 EST References: <860222000126.1.BATALI@RICKY.AI.MIT.EDU> <350@vger.UUCP> <1038@psivax.UUCP> Reply-To: mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR) Organization: none Lines: 41 In article <1038@psivax.UUCP> friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen) writes: >In article <350@vger.UUCP> al@vger.UUCP ( Informatix) writes: >> >> NASA would prefer that the cause of >>the accident be found and fixed as quickly as possible. >> The problem is not to wreck vengence, the problem is to resume >>space flight. > > Ditto to this in spades! I couldn't care less whose *fault* >the accident was. Lets forget all about *blaming* anyone, there is no >more useless activity in the human reportoire. The thing to do is find >out the cause of the accident, fix it, and get going again as fast as >possible. Is anyone out there with authority listening? >-- > > Sarima (Stanley Friesen) Nice sentiment, perhaps. However, in this case it appears that there is an underlying cause of the accident - the very procedures used in the decision making process. Fixing the O-ring problems from an engineering standpoint does not address the main problem - that engineering concerns were over-ridden by management concerns. To fix that problem, the guilty individuals *must* be identified and the system *must* be changed. To not fix the problem is to ask for it to happen again. Somebody screwed up, and that screw-up cost billions of dollars and seven lives, not to mention all sorts of intangible costs such as national prestige and possible resistance to future space sefforts. I don't see how you can say, "Well, nevermind. It's okay - you guys just go ahead as if nothing happened and plan the next flight." Blaming people is not a useless activity if the alternative means leaving them in place to repeat their screwups. This is high-stakes stuff, and a track record of faulty procedures is not a good recommendation for a position of authority. -- --MKR If Man were meant to use the metric system, Jesus would have had 10 disciples.