Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, December 17, 2007 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Tom Meylan
"Luck and Collaborative Creativity"
ABSTRACT -- The International Ultraviolet Explorer Mission managed by a team in Building 21 from 1978 through 1996. It survived serious underscoping, immature software, component failures at 23,000 miles, and budget threats from 10 miles down the road. This longevity is the result of the application of creative activity to solve large technical issues, and the ability to transfer that creative process to dealing with non-technical threats to the project. Tom Meylan and Terry Teays have captured a number of the applications of collaborative creativity in their book, coming out in November, 2007 (and available now for pre-order on Amazon.com) called Optimizing Luck. Tom will speak on some of these topics as it relates to the formation of effective technical teams.
SPEAKER -- Tom Meylan supervised IUE image processing, and subsequently managed the IUE Data Analysis Center while with CSC at GSFC. He earned his PhD in Astrophysics at Georgia State University as an optical stellar spectroscopist. After leaving GSFC Tom worked as a system integration consultant in various companies supplying services to the private sector. Currently he runs EvolvingSUCCESS, a leadership training company.