Retaining Critical Skills Knowledge at the end of

Retaining Critical Skills & Knowledge at the end of a Project Life Cycle James G. La. Rocque SQ&MA Director Logistics & Material United Space Alliance 2/19/08 Copyright © 2008 by United Space Alliance, LLC. These materials are sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Contract NAS 9 -20000 and Contract NNJ 06 VA 01 C. The U. S. Government retains a paid-up, nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in such materials to reproduce, prepare, derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the U. S. Government. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner. 6/8/2021 USA Critical Knowledge

End of a Project Life Cycle • The Space Shuttle Project is currently scheduled to end in 2010, which presents challenges in the project life cycle 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 1

End of a Project Life Cycle - Strategy • Benchmarked companies to determine what can be done to address out End of Project issues: – Retention – Knowledge Capture 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 2

Retention Strategy • New Business – Provide jobs for future • Understand why people stay and leave – Honest and open communication – Survey employees about specific job enhancements to provide the challenges and recognition they value most in the workplace • Incentives – Offer incentives for critical skill employees to stay to the end of the project 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 3

New Business • Goal: Provide Jobs for the Future – Constellation Projects § USA is partnered with other contractors – Other business opportunities 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 4

Understand Motivations • Goal: Understand why people stay/leave – Complete surveys to understand reasons people give for leaving – Conduct interviews to better understand what is truly important to our personnel – Have frequent and frank communications – Find the right mix - some personnel prefer to be challenged while other employees value security most – Stress specific job enhancements to address what management can do to provide the challenges and recognition employees value most in the workplace 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 5

Offer Incentives • Goal: Offer Incentives – Provide a mix of praise and pay – Strive to provide the needed growth challenges internally – Provide an incentive package for critical skill employees – Offer a competitive severance plan to provide employees with security 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 6

Knowledge Capture Strategy • Goal: Retain and leverage knowledge to maintain sufficient technical depth to safely execute the remaining shuttle missions – Everyone “does” knowledge management, but they may not think about it in those terms – Knowledge Capture § Know who has what competency ü Competency Management System § Ensure knowledge is being retained ü Knowledge Management Databases 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 7

Knowledge Cycle Bodies of Knowledge Training/Certification, Skills, Processes & Products § Ground Systems § Formal Training – Planning Tracking & Authorization § Flight Systems § Functional Areas § Core Competences § Mentoring & Skills Development § Key Capabilities § Informal Training § Skills Needed & Identified Employ, Experience, Research & Develop Knowledge Transfer, Storage & Retrieval § Gather Data & Information § Capture Methods & Tools § Research Extraction § Search Technologies & Tools § Analysis & “Lessons Learned” § Source Identification (Guru) § Storage Practices & Topologies 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt § Peer Reviews § Panel Reviews Page 8

Competency Management System • Competency Management System (CMS) – Allows management to identify and assess individual competencies to continue safe operations, increase opportunities and ensure long-term viability of the company 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 9

Knowledge Management Database In Engineer’s Files In storage In Ops Area Bookcases s lyse C a n alcs A Prob lems & So es i d u t lutio S ns s” Engine Book n i a ering “Br “In the Truck” “Lost, stolen, or strayed” 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt s view e R a Rationa Dat le In Engineers’ computers (+ floppies in desk drawer) ? Gone Page 10 Tacit Knowledge

Knowledge Management Database • Capture knowledge and make it available to create, share, and act upon to: – Ensure Shuttle project flight safety and manifest supportability throughout the remaining life of the project – Provide pertinent knowledge for future projects – Reduce duplication of efforts due to capturing historical data from lessons learned / best practices – Reduce research time and effort (one-stop-shopping) – Access to previous experience, including best practices and lessons learned 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 11

Knowledge Management Database Knowledge Management Library Taxonomy & Metadata Management Conceptual Classification KM Librarian Scanned Content Validate Render Version Profile Assist TIFF HTML . rtf Unstructured Content . doc XML . xls . pdf. ppt. txt Digital Media Company Taxonomy Engineering - Orbiter - SRB SQ&MA - IFAs - Root Cause - C/RA Automated indexing Search it! Find it! Re-Use it! C O T S Portal Staging Trending Analysis Information Extraction C O T S Intelligent Content Personalize it! Indexing & Categorization Automate indexing & categorization enable accurate search, retrieval, and re-use of content across enterprise 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 12

Knowledge Management Database • Includes: – Analyses – Calculations – White papers – Assumptions – Detailed rationale – Discussions – Presentations – Brain books – Lessons learned, – Design approaches – Questionnaires – Interviews 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 13

Where is USA going from here? • Providing better search capabilities across informal and formal archives • Formalizing capture of information from potential retirees when identified • Improving the organization of the data • Exploring how to leverage the data • Shortening learning curves for replacement personnel by transferring knowledge from predecessors to new employees • Providing library of real-world “Design for Operations” information for use in Constellation 6/8/2021 Knowledge Management Overview. ppt Page 14