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Old 6th Oct 2013, 10:35
  #61 (permalink)  
fenland787
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Eastern Anglia
Age: 75
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Barkingmad is right, but it is a shame someone will end up in jail - a shame because that will mean a bunch of people have died - before it is understood.

I have spent a while since heading back from my time in Everett trying to understand how a great company like Boeing who, let's face it, should know a thing or two about how to build an airplane, got in such a mess. I keep coming back to one simple thing, the (too many) layers of program management seemed to divorced from, and disrespectful of, the engineering/production side of the operation.

I worked intensively for eight years on both sides of that divide and saw it on a daily basis. That is the point, it was a divide, this was not a company operating as a coherent team, almost a 'them and us' feeling at times.

So, do I have a solution? Actually yes, and this is my age and background showing, but it is really very simple:

1/ Nobody gets to be a program manager until they have done some real work, in the engineering department, on the line or wherever so they can learn how the thing they are meant to be running actually works (or doesn't).

Industry in general needs to understand that an MBA is valueless in itself and will not make you a manager. If you can add an MBA to your real time-served skills, on the line, engineering, operations or whatever, then an MBA will help you be a much better manager, but it must be that way round.

2/ Top level management must always have a balance of skills, no one discipline (e.g. financial) must dominate, and again the same rules apply, all these folk should be time-served people who have got the scars and the T-shirts!

But, as I tend to sign off, I'm just an engineer with a lot of scars and T-shirts, what would I know?
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