Doing space station differently, we can RISE to a new future
2014-11-13
This past August, International Space Station (ISS) Program Manager Mike Suffredini approved the charter of a small team to leave their day-to-day jobs and fully concentrate on reengineering the ISS Program. The team named itself RISE—or, Revolutionize ISS for Science and Exploration.
The intent of the RISE team is to define the core and enabling processes in the program and put specific enablers (procedures, tools, resources, forums, reward systems and more) in place to change the culture of the ISS Program. Currently, the processes and behaviors employed for space station are geared toward an assembly-mode mindset, which were perfect for building an orbiting laboratory in space. However, the same processes and behaviors are not conducive to stewarding science and technology discoveries.
RISE concluded that there had to be a shift the way that personnel within the program think and perform their job every day. The program is no longer the customer, and its value system must meld into that of a service organization supporting the true customers—science, technology, exploration and commercial enterprise communities. Suffredini believes that the success of the RISE team is critical to the success of the program.
The team has been working during the last two months to lay the framework, define new core and enabling processes and dive into activities that will generate key elements to motivate a culture shift. RISE expects to have an initial implementation plan to the program manager by the end of the year, and will start training and implementing the new processes after the first of the year.
A change of this magnitude will take a tremendous amount of time and energy, but the response by the ISS personnel and the support of management has been overwhelmingly positive. The vision is clear … and the program is ready to steer toward its future and RISE to the occasion.
Have an idea or want to collaborate with RISE? Contact the team.
Ryan L. Prouty
NASA Johnson Space Center
The intent of the RISE team is to define the core and enabling processes in the program and put specific enablers (procedures, tools, resources, forums, reward systems and more) in place to change the culture of the ISS Program. Currently, the processes and behaviors employed for space station are geared toward an assembly-mode mindset, which were perfect for building an orbiting laboratory in space. However, the same processes and behaviors are not conducive to stewarding science and technology discoveries.
RISE concluded that there had to be a shift the way that personnel within the program think and perform their job every day. The program is no longer the customer, and its value system must meld into that of a service organization supporting the true customers—science, technology, exploration and commercial enterprise communities. Suffredini believes that the success of the RISE team is critical to the success of the program.
The team has been working during the last two months to lay the framework, define new core and enabling processes and dive into activities that will generate key elements to motivate a culture shift. RISE expects to have an initial implementation plan to the program manager by the end of the year, and will start training and implementing the new processes after the first of the year.
A change of this magnitude will take a tremendous amount of time and energy, but the response by the ISS personnel and the support of management has been overwhelmingly positive. The vision is clear … and the program is ready to steer toward its future and RISE to the occasion.
Have an idea or want to collaborate with RISE? Contact the team.
Ryan L. Prouty
NASA Johnson Space Center
