1. Lesson: The Cost of Change
Nothing is free. The only issue to be addressed is the value against the cost.
Background:
Every document, change, report, study, test, analysis, conference, telephone call, etc., has a cost in manpower and material. All too frequently managers will delude themselves into thinking an action has "no cost" or "no impact" when the true assessment would be that the action can be undertaken with a relatively small effort. Also, decisions to change an item are frequently made without a thought-out assessment of all aspects of the task and with only an assessment of the visible work involved.
For example, when the workshop was in the final stages of preparation, a number of decals (containing operating instructions) were judged to be less clear than was possible. When the final bill was known, each decal change cost tens of thousands of dollars, all accountable. The visible task, removal of the old decal, the preparation and installation of the new, was only a few dollars, as you would suspect. However, good aerospace procedures were used and work orders had to be prepared and processed, the work had to be reviewed and inspected, the drawings had to be changed, the change had to be processed, drawing lists had to be modified, test procedures modified and reviewed, crew checklists had to be changed, and to all this, overhead costs had to be added.
Change options, it should be remembered, may reduce cost, but a price must be paid for everything.
These lessons learned are from SKYLAB LESSONS LEARNED AS APPLICABLE TO A LARGE SPACE STATION, A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The School of Engineering and Architecture Of the Catholic University of America For the Degree Doctor of Engineering by William C. Schneider, Washington, D.C., 1976.
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Last Revised:
March 07, 2004
Digital Engineering Institute
Web Grunt:
Richard Katz
