HBR case study: A Rush to Failure

questions

The main problem or issue with the project

2 . Strengths and weakness of the project manager van sant

3. Should van sant push for a renegotiated contract for reach?

MacDonagle, the head of the Canadian Aeronautics Administration, was nervous. Everyone at CAA headquarters was nervous. Very shortly, the project that many of them had devoted the past four years to would have its first real world test, 350 kilometers above the earth. Feeling cooped up in the executive offices and oppressed by the presence of the media, MacDonagle had gone outside to breathe some air-actually, some tobacco smoke--and had invited the sharp young program manager Samantha Van Sant to join him. Van Sant, a former Canadian army major, had a lot of skin in the project too. Since 2006 she'd been managing the two contractors the CAA had commissioned to build the $1.2 billion set of giant robotic arms known as Retractable Extended-Arms Compatible Holder, or REACH, for the International Space Station. "So how do you deal with nerves?" MacDonagle asked. "I usually go out for a run," Van Sant said, looking down the road that led from CAA headquarters through the cornfields, on which she'd logged many miles. They turned to look back at the agency's buildings, which despite their grandeur looked small in the empty Quebec landscape. The sight reminded Van Sant of one of MacDonagle's catchphrases: "We are a small spacefaring nation...." Canada was indeed a small player in space compared with the U.S., Russia, Europe, and Japan. Always at risk of being marginalized, the CAA had done everything possible to get the REACH contractors, Hollenbeck Aircraft and Eskina Software Systems, to complete the first phase of the project in time to get it to the space station this year, when the orbiting lab would officially be complete. And, amazingly, they had made the deadline--and come in on Canada was indeed a small player in space compared with the U.S., Russia, Europe, and Japan. Always at risk of being marginalized, the CAA had done everything possible to get the REACH contractors, Hollenbeck Aircraft and Eskina Software Systems, to complete the first phase of the project in time to get it to the space station this year, when the orbiting lab would officially be complete. And, amazingly, they had made the deadline-and come in on budget. REACH was now attached to the station, though there was still much more to come, including an even more sophisticated set of "hands" that would fit on the ends of the robotic arms for extremely delicate work. The additions were to continue for two more years. The contractors had been great about speed; the problem was quality Glitches with the software, motors, and circuits had kept turning up. The fact was, not a single test in four years had gone flawlessly. Yeah, yeah, we can fix that," the contractors' reps always said, dismissing the CAA's concerns. "Hey, this is life in the fast lane," a rep told Van Sant after one of REACH's arms had failed to retract on command. "Remember, we told you that the compressed schedule would increase the risk." that The contract that she managed called for parallel development, meaning that the pject's phases ---R&D, prototyping, testing, production, and quality control-overlapped, with each one beginning while the previous one was as much as 50% incomplete. That was sacrilege in some aerospace circles. But owing to the space station's construction deadline and the ever-present threat of cuts to the CAA's budget, the agency was aiming to do a decade's worth of work in six years, Computer simulations had to take the place of some real- world testing. Component quality control was less thorough. Because of all the unknowns in the project, the CAA had agreed to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, under which the contractors were paid a specified amount over their costs for labor, materials, and overhead. MacDonagle's insistence on a rapid approach to development had been one of the main reasons Van Sant had been hired as a program manager. During her years in the army, she had established a bulletproof reputation for being aggressive and goal oriented. She and MacDonagle saw eye-to-eye. She knew speed was critical "I know what the media hounds will ask me: Is REACH going to work this time?" MacDonagle said. "We'd better go, I guess," MacDonagle said. "The media hounds are waiting. I told them I'd do quickie interviews once I got back. I know what they'll ask me: Is REACH going to work this time?" As they headed toward the building, the rain started. He looked at Van Sant. "So is it?" Trouble in the Air Trouble in the Air Red marker in hand, MacDonagle held forth before a group of reporters, asking whether they were aware that 50 years ago, the U.S. had blasted half a billion-inch-long copper needles into orbit to reflect radio waves and thereby facilitate communications. Those needles were still floating around, and some had torn through one of the space station's solar collectors. "The solar arrays are the big bird's big red wings," he said, turning to the whiteboard and drawing the collectors. He drew a gash in one of them. "A hole here means less electricity," he said, tapping the board. "Ever since the solar array got that hole from those flying needles, the space station has been operating on less power. Fixing it is tricky, because it's very far from the modules where the astronauts work and because of the risk of electrocution. Once an array is in place, you can't turn it off. It keeps generating power from sunlight. So if a spacewalker were to try to go out there and fix it, he'd be liable to get 100 volts of direct current through his body. That's where REACH comes in." He drew a gash in one of them. "A hole here means less electricity," he said, tapping the board. "Ever since the solar array got that hole from those flying needles, the space station has been operating on less power. Fixing it is tricky, because it's very far from the modules where the astronauts work and because of the risk of electrocution. Once an array is in place, you can't turn it off. It keeps generating power from sunlight. So if a spacewalker were to try to go out there and fix it, he'd be liable to get 100 volts of direct current through his body. That's where REACH comes in." He took a moment to draw the Canadian creation, then stepped back to admire his sketch. The machine's two long arms stretched out toward the solar array in a nurturing embrace. "Fixing solar arrays isn't what REACH was designed for," MacDonagle said. "It's meant to do the mundane work of replacing battery units on the exterior of the space station. But since REACH is up there, it's being pressed into service for the repair. It will stitch together the solar array while the astronauts control it from the safety of their module." He put the cap back on the marker and began fielding questions. As Van Sant watched, someone tapped her on the arm. It was Alfred Siroy, the head of a CAA panel that had been trying to find out why there were so many quality issues with equipment from the Hollenbeck-Eskina venture. "How long before they deploy it?" he asked. "Soon-later-I'm not sure," she said. Siroy always made Van Sant defensive. He'd made no secret of his disapproval of the way the REACH program was being managed, and of the parallel