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Wayne Hale

What Wayne Hale thinks about management

@wayne-hale · 11 positions · 1 change of mind

Retired NASA engineer and manager, a Space Shuttle flight director for forty missions and Space Shuttle Program Manager or Deputy for five years. Writes about risk, engineering judgement and the Columbia accident at waynehale.wordpress.com.

Wayne Hale did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2013 to 2024, in their own words. Our reading of what Wayne Hale has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingEngineers will always ask for more data, so someone has to decide without certainty and own the risk to human life.

    Their wordsThe engineers will always always always ask for more tests, more analysis, more time to get more information to be more certain of their conclusions.

    ↗Flight Rationalewaynehale.wordpress.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  2. 12 years earlier

  3. Our reading · no longer heldThe Challenger accident was caused by managers who suppressed engineers' safety concerns for venal reasons.

    Recalls holdingFor all those years I had learned the wrong lesson about the loss of Challenger.

    SaidThe sound-bite explanation kept me in ignorance.

    ↗After Ten Years: Enduring Lessonswaynehale.wordpress.com 1st of 4 in this piece

  5. Our readingIn a risky organisation, defer to expertise rather than to leaders.

    Their wordsDefer to expertise rather than leaders.

    ↗After Ten Years: Enduring Lessonswaynehale.wordpress.com 2nd of 4 in this piece

  7. Our readingA team that agrees has not examined the problem hard enough; dissent is what makes a decision safe.

    Their wordsIf you don’t have dissention, then you haven’t examined the problem closely enough.

    ↗After Ten Years: Enduring Lessonswaynehale.wordpress.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

  8. 3 weeks earlier

  9. Our readingDisasters come from organisational conditions, not from bad individuals, so blaming a person prevents the fix.

    Their wordsSo don’t blame an individual; looks for the organizational factors that lead to that kind of a mindset.

    ↗After Ten Years: Working on the Wrong Problemwaynehale.wordpress.com 2nd of 2 in this piece