Lessons from the Landing of Apollo 11
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Forty years ago today, at 4:17 PM Eastern Time, Apollo 11 landed on the lunar surface. Six and half hours later, at 10:56 PM Eastern, Neil Armstrong put his foot on the lunar surface, accomplishing the first part of the challenge set by President John Kennedy, 8 years before.
I recorded those events as they happened. Technology wasn't what it is today. I used a 35 mm camera to take pictures of my TV screen which was the image from a network camera taking a picture of the NASA picture.
I used a reel-to-reel tape recorder and microphone (both placed in the other room) to record a radio broadcast of the events. Even so you could hear my loud voice from the other room on the tape.
The technology of the day simply wasn't what it is today. The computers on the lunar lander had a whopping 2 KB of RAM. Today there are watches with more.
It was a big deal. People like me, who grew up reading science fiction, were wrapped in the romance of it all.
Werner von Braun once described the difficulty of a moon shot as "Hitting a bumble bee in flight with an air rifle while riding a merry-go-round." It was tough.
And, guess what? The spacecraft was off course more than it was on. Lots of small course corrections got it where it needed to be.
When the lunar lander descended, the position wasn't exactly what was planned. Not only that, the surface right below the lander was rough. Neil Armstrong needed to do some of that pilot stuff to set the craft down safely.
When it came time for him to make the historic statement, the one he'd probably been practicing in his head, it came out differently then he'd planned. He intended to say, "That's one small step for a man …" But if you listen to the recordings, what you hear is "That's one small step for man …"
Boss's Bottom Line
No matter how sophisticated or thorough your planning, almost every project is off course most of the time. Frequent, small course corrections are the best way to hit the target.
No matter how smart or sophisticated or prepared your people are, they will make mistakes from time to time. Humans do that. Even you.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
The article is very apt for today as it seems today more than yesterday decision and plans are expected to be made rapidly. Being flexible and aware really helps with making the small corrections. Growling at people or beating yourself up ought not to be the default strategy when a project is off course, it makes people psychologically tighten up and not be at their best. Most people do better when it is not only expected that things will go awry but when confidence is expressed that the small corrections needed will be accomplished. I know of a situation where an employer was supportive of employee decisions until something did not go according to plan. Then rather than sharing the responsibility for situation and helping the situation get back on track the leader disavowed responsibility and punished the employees. As a result people left and those that remained were afraid to take risks that would result in providing better service.
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Excellent comment, Alex. Thanks for coming by. Ricardo Semler says that his democratic management at Semco only works because he has never yanked back control of project. He says that if he does, the people at Semco will never trust him again.
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I can almost picture the scene, Wally, of you recording the events of that day. Well done. And thanks for the reminder that projects often get off course and need small corrections.
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Thanks for coming by, Becky. A project manager friend of mine said that the art of project management is not so much in the planning, though that's important, but in the adapting.
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Wally, this great comment also applies to leadership - of which there was an amply supply on that mission. Thanks for painting the picture of that amazing event for us.
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Good point, Mary Jo. Thanks for sharing.
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