Prepared to Launch: Growing up PM at NASA

The Fifth of Six Criteria That Each NASA Project Manager Must Know

5A: ADEQUACY AND AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES OTHER THAN BUDGET

This is often examined during the Project Reviews with the simple question: “Do you have a handle on the resources you’ll need?”  Without the correct resources, available at the correct time, a project will certainly encounter trouble or even fail.  This critical need is examined by the review committee, often with recommendations being made. By now you are probably asking:  What happened to the budget?  Isn’t money a concern?  That was part of an earlier blog that discussed the Joint Cost and Schedule Confidence Level (JCL) This is the probability that cost will be equal to or less than the targeted cost, and schedule will be equal to or less than the targeted schedule date.  During the conduct of a project review – very little is missed! 

“Project teams should embrace the external reviews. External reviews allow the project to think about all the tough questions they’re going to be asked and give them time to plug the holes. Brainstorm possible questions with the team to make sure they are covered. Next, projects should determine what the decision points are and what decision trees should be used for addressing these points. The project manager should assign actions and revisit them prior to the review, using this as a preparation for the review.”

— JPL Programs and Projects Manager

Of course, the resources required for a project of course include more than people.  I’ve made this mistake a few times, and believe me, I hope I won’t do it again.  NASA projects require not only highly skilled people, but Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components and perhaps unique, complex, one-of-a-kind items created by a vendor, or internal NASA shops.   These are all resources that are needed to complete the project.  It’s part of your duty to make sure you understand what you’ll need, when you’ll need it and what to do if it’s not available.  So, each PM is judged on their having a documented understanding of the total resources required to complete the scope of their Project

Quoting the NASA standard: “Adequacy and availability of resources other than other than budget are essential elements of successful project functionality, implementation and operation. These resources include: workforce, fabrication, assembly, test facilities and equipment, test beds, ground support equipment, launch sites, communication networks, and mission operation centers. They can be either government or privately held resources.”

Each Project Manager must have a handle on all resources and where the need for that resource came from – in other words, what requirement is driving the need?  This in-depth and personal understanding includes the planning, projected or current availability of components and staffing, competency and stability of staffing, required infrastructure, and the industrial base/supplier chain requirements.  There’s a lot of investigation, deep-thinking and planning required to create the needed comfort-factor that “requirements other than budget” are completely understood.?

Essentially the review board is looking for:

• Planning, availability, competency and stability of staffing, infrastructure

• The industrial base/supplier chain requirements

• Planning, availability, competency and stability of staffing, and infrastructure requirements.

Resource Dashboard

The standard reporting system for the Review Board is a three-level metric scale, i.e., successful (green), partially successful (yellow), or unsuccessful (red). This is sometimes referred to as a stop-light assessment.

For judging Resource Adequacy:

                Successful: (Green Status): All key implementation facilities have been identified and are available to support near term (5-year) missions.  This includes the availability, competency and Stability of staffing, essential infrastructure and additional resources are adequate for remaining lifecycle phases.

                Partially Successful: (Yellow Status):  All key resources, may not be identified to support near term (5-year) missions, known resources may not be available when needed, external resource needs are notional. Preliminary staffing and essential infrastructure requirements have been identified and documented; preliminary sources have been identified.

                Unsuccessful: (Red Status): Needed resources and/or facilities are not identified, availability of either internal or external resources are unknown.  Staffing resource needs are clearly inadequate.

The Review Board’s assessment will consider not only the adequacy of the proposed and acquired resources, but also alternatives that might reduce cost or risk, or perhaps improve the performance of associated life-cycle activities. As with the other assessments, the Review Board must understand the margins and constraints for the project especially as it relates to current and planned workforce loading

“Clearly, having a good system philosophy and well-transmitted expectations makes a big difference in how they do their jobs.”

– Project Manager, JSC

Overall Resource Acquisition Strategy: As early as possible in planning, all project types begin to define theirs acquisition strategy. The Acquisition Strategy is the plan or approach for using NASA’s acquisition authorities to achieve the project’s mission.   This includes recommendations from make/buy analyses, the recommendations from vendor competition analyses, proposed partnerships and contributions, proposed infrastructure use and needs, budget, and other considerations.

This documented strategy addresses the project’s initial plans for obtaining the systems, research, services, construction, and supplies that it needs to fulfill its mission, including any known procurement(s); the availability of the industrial base capability and supply chain needed to design, develop, produce, and support the project and its planned projects; identifying risks associated with single source or critical suppliers; and attendant mitigation plans

5b: A Technology Development Plan

This plan should describe the technology assessment, development, management, and acquisition strategies needed to achieve the project’s objectives.  It describes how the project will assess its technology development requirements, including how the project will evaluate the feasibility, availability, readiness, cost, risk, and benefit of the new technologies. It describes how the project will identify opportunities for leveraging ongoing technology efforts, including technology developed on other NASA projects or programs, at other governmental agencies, or in industry.

The Technology Development Plan also identifies the supply chain needed to manufacture the technology and any costs and risks associated with the transition from development to the manufacturing and production phases.  To accomplish these rather in-depth and detailed goals, the Technology Development Plan typically:

• Describes the project’s strategy for ensuring that there are alternative development paths available if/when technologies do not mature as expected

• Describes how the project will remove technology gaps, including

  •  Maturation, validation, and insertion plans

  •  Performance measurement at quantifiable milestones

  •  Off-ramp decision gates (i.e., the point during development where the project assesses whether the technology is maturing adequately and, if not, decides to terminate continued technology development); and required

• Describes briefly how the project will ensure that all planned technology exchanges, contracts, and partnership agreements comply with all laws and regulations regarding export control and the transfer of sensitive and proprietary information

• Describes the project’s technology utilization and commercialization plan in accordance with the requirements of NPD 7500.2, NASA Innovative Partnerships Project and NPR 7500.1, NASA Technology Commercialization Process

• Describes how the project will transition technologies from the development stage to manufacturing, production, and insertion into the end system

• Identifies any potential costs and risks associated with the transition to manufacturing, production, and insertion; and documents appropriate mitigation plans for the identified risks.

A Technology Development Plan is  a big deal…

Here is a “Technology Development Plan Appendix” (PDF download @ http://go.nasa.gov/2fhx8CO)  published this year for the ‘Exoplanet Exploration Program’ by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Cal Tech.