“Hows NOT Buts”

Recently, I have learned the new adage “Hows NOT Buts” from my time and interaction with Tx/Rx Labs.  This is the favorite quote of one very charismatic member at Tx/Rx Labs, who is a self-taught engineer.  His enthusiasm for learning, is very inspiring.  As a self-taught engineer and tinkerer this member has learned to be very resourceful.  If he could have gone to school for engineering, he would have jumped at the opportunity, but his financial situation was such that going to school was not an option.  Even, with all these limitations I still believe that this individual is one of the best engineers I have ever worked with.

The reason I bring this story up is because I think NASA could learn a lot from the simple quote “Hows NOT Buts”.  In NASA it is often that you hear

“but we don’t have enough money”,
“but we are government”,
“but its against the rules”,
“but those are the requirements”,
“but its not my job”, etc….

As enthusiastic and as hard-headed as I am, even I have found myself saying “but” more often.  This act is not acceptable by me, it is not acceptable by those who work at NASA, and it is especially not acceptable for those who have leadership position.  (I like to pick on leaders,  because to me leadership is a position of responsibility not a position of prestige.)  Instead we must be asking “How…?” we can do things.

When I first got here, I didn’t say “but we ONLY have 1% of the federal budget”, I said “Whoah! we have a whole 1% of the federal budget”.  I mean great companies have been started on less than 100k.  What’s wrong with finding ways for NASA to be self-sustaining, and even profitable? “BUT we are government”…well, so is the US Mint.  Even though the US Mint is government they have found a way to be profitable.  We don’t have to compete with industry, actually the best strategy is to work with industry.

When I first got here, I didn’t say “but we are government”, I said “Whoah! we are government” that means unlike business who has to be fiscally conservative in order to survive, we could take more risk (not dumb risk) so that the American economy can profit as well as allowing us to converge to being self-sustaining.

When I first got here, all those buts that I mentioned above were opportunities to solve.  I believe that there are many people at NASA who like me started with eyes wide open, with opportunities abound and have been trained and configured to say “but…” more often.  We owe it to ourselves, to awaken that youthful vigor that saw the opportunities and dared to ask “How?”.  We have the talent and we have the dedication that is needed to perform miracles.  What we need now is to unlearn bad habits, and forget bad assumptions.  We must be willing to question every facet of our operation, with opportunities in mind NOT with fear.  Youthful vigor when added to the wisdom from maturity is a winning combination.

I know that we can do great things!  NOW lets get it done!