Bureaucracy

Someone asked why we were able to put the first steps on the moon in only 10 years of inventing and developing new technology with lots of risks and losses. However, today we can’t seem to progress as quickly, given that our generation faces the challenge of going back to the moon and beyond. I think we are now weighed down to the point of strangling progress by bureaucracy, finance, and safety. In the 1960s, bureaucracy was at a minimum; finance was thrown at the challenge instead of endless audits, and safety was in its infancy. All three are important, but if on-time progress today is expected, all three need to be throttled back.

When the F-117 Stealth Fighter was being developed, cost and time projections were given to Congress. When costs skyrocketed and delivery times were repeatedly delayed, the project manager appeared before Congress for questioning. What it boiled down to is that OSHA was formed during that time. Production was stopped many times to reconfigure the assembly areas to make them safer. Stopping production drives up costs, since people are still on the payroll but unable to build airplanes. Reconfiguring the assembly lines drives up costs for obvious reasons. All this was because the paint shop was ‘too close’ to the assembly area. So now the flight line of F117 Stealth Fighters costs three times the budgeted amount.

Safety is important, but needs to be asserted more efficiently so as not to hinder progress. Finance is also important, but it does not need to be micro-managed. Bureaucracy does not need to be the bloated micro-manager that it is today.