A Question of Ethics

This topic was the subject of several NSPE presentations I attended a few years ago. But it's easier said than done to say "don't go it alone". The 1986 Space Shuttle disaster has been documentated and studied as the texbook case of when engineers who said no were pushed aside, and even when they didn't go it alone, they were still shushed. NASA and Thiokol both were determined to make a launch no matter what the objections and risks. They were a classic example of rationalization and meangement pressure on techncial experts who were told in no uncertain terms to toe the line...or else.

How NASA and Thiokol management avoid criminal prosecution for murder is a subject for another entirely different debate. But my point is, not going it alone and standing up for your guns was thoroughly and deliberately thwarted in that case. So what's the point of giving advice we already know about, and that there will be times when it just doesn't help.

JHH Associates, I appreciate your attitude and you sound like a reasonable boss.

But as I've been pointing out, life is not always so simple. I have been in situations where sales and management people gave totally unrealistic promises to a client, then left me to explain later why the project deliverables were late (and sometimes very late). The time I stood up and said "don't give an unrealistic quote because I won't lie for you why a project is late" I was told I was not a team player. I would up getting ostracized to the point I had to leave the company less than six months later. And that wasn't the first time sound technical advice I was a part of developing was ignored....fortunately the only damages I've seen were economic to both client and company.

I have known colleagues who were told to lie and falsify documents to either meet schedules or comply with regs. In every case, their only option was to get a transfer to another department of leave the company. They would up having to go it alone, on the unemployment line.

There is a stereotype of unreasonable bosses for a reason. It's because many of them are unreasonable and can't be swayed. Kudos to you for being one of the reasonable ones.

When I was in the US Air Force, I managed hardware and software contracts for some space systems. When our contractors were given the same two options, they never chose the first. Sometimes there had to be a compromise between 1 and 2, but the tradeoffs were always discussed and agreed to. Timely and open communication is critical to decision-making at ALL levels.

Wow, I'll let you be the one that puts in a bad design just to make your boss happy by meeting his schedule. When someone dies and you go to prison, make sure you send us a comment on CR4 so we can discuss.

I plan on getting my PE next year, and I most certainly will NOT adhere to an impossible schedule to make a client happy. That's my reputation and career on the line and schedule can wait!

Actually, I'm currently managing a project that's trying to meet a hard schedule to squeeze a few extra bucks out of a unit. The only risk is that we could potentially start up an elevated exchanger while the steel below it is not fireproofed. I'm working with our safety department and operations unit to manage the work but I will not buy off an unsafe amount of fireproofing just to meet their ridiculous schedule.

Ethics should mean something to engineers and if they don't then you are in the wrong field.

Maybe I read it with the wrong tone. I see your point but I still think I'd rather get punted than have to live with a design like the Hyatt Regency Walkway. If you're willing to stand by that kind of design then be my guest.

And how was my first answer off topic? We're talking about ethics in engineering and design. I don't see how that answer was off topic in any way!?

I don't know how you got that OT, it certainly wasn't me that gave it to you.

I once had a colleague who decided to make a stand against the boss. Rather than explain the merits of a more thoughtful approach, he got fired for saying no. Afterward, he admitted to me that he should have approached the situation a little differently, but did not feel bad at all about being fired because he stuck to his guns.

I'm all for standing up for what you know is right. But be smart about it. Cheers!

Close communication with my lead or manager, "we have this done and that done, but we need a couple more days to get the final bit right.

Couple other options on "Don't go it alone" - Don't get stuck with the decision - use your chain of command.

Also...consider using a 'review cycle' to buy a few days, put out a draft to ...anyone...for review (then work feverishly in the background).

I have also feigned illness and taken my laptop home....

Been there and sympathize.

From a program management standpoint, a well justified schedule slip with a solid recovery delivered early enough for your customer to cope beats last minute failures in delivery

Every project is different. However, I had a sign in my office directly over my work station...."Bad planning on YOUR part does not constitute an emergency on MY part".

However, I rather like it when I get job with a stupidly short deadline because I can charge a lot more for it. There is nothing I like better than saying to a customer "Well sir, that will mean a lot of overtime, and possibly hiring a couple more people...you okay with that?" Only two things can happen then....either the customer chokes on the price and goes someplace else (less aggravation for me) or now I have to either "put up or shut up". Then life becomes a little more interesting.

My latest job was like that in February. They came to me after they had been turned down by a half dozen other firms. Time was running out, their key people were winding down their contracts and I needed to get them supplied ASAP. I did it. They nearly choked on the cost, but I came through by tripling of my staffing for that month! My reputation is now golden for quality and deadline, but my name is mud for creating "cheap stuff". And I am curiously okay with that. But I do note that the phone is not ringing off the hook with new orders.

And you know, I am curiously okay with that as well.

I sat in a project meeting that the project engineer was explaining how we could cut corners with all the experience guys working hard and lots of overtime. The assitant project engineer sitting next to me, wispered that we had just one month for this million dollar project to meet DOE schedule. Note DOE required 3 days of review and we had to incorporate those comments. That gives us 3 weeks. It's just impossible.I play softball with this project guy, so I went to him on a personal level, and asked what the heck are you thinking ? He knew we could not meet the schedule, no one could. His idea was to get the contract, show the client the effort, the design, the solutions, and that the materials can not be purchased and on site in time. He explained he could get the client and DOE to accept the inevitable, and extent the schedule.

Another site I was working on a tight schedule, they had fitters, welders, machinist, etc build-in-place, for us to document and qualify the pieces after.

These were degreed engineers who came up with these solutions.

I admit, it does seem like a good way to get rid of those pesky business contracts which keep me from painting my house, fixing up the deck and going fishing.