The debate taking place within the NASA community concerns the future role of the agency.  President Obama recently highlighted his mission for NASA when he spoke at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on April 15.

“So the point is what we’re looking for is not just to continue on the same path — we want to leap into the future; we want major breakthroughs; a transformative agenda for NASA…  Critical to deep space exploration will be the development of breakthrough propulsion systems and other advanced technologies. So I’m challenging NASA to break through these barriers. And we’ll give you the resources to break through these barriers. And I know you will, with ingenuity and intensity, because that’s what you’ve always done.”

What has some NASA insiders concerned is that there is no specific mission.  President Obama has presented a vision but some space supporters are concerned that it is not compelling enough. 

“Talking about a goal like that so far in the future- anyone can do that…What is the vision for NASA?  One of the things that the old hands at the space agency all say is absolutely crucial is timetables and destinations.  A firm destination and some idea of when you hope to be there.  The open-ended nature of what the Obama Administration is proposing has bothered some of those space hands…folks are worried about the long-term survivability of this plan”

Many of us who were alive during the moon landing or grew-up in the shadows of its legacy can recall the power of President Kennedy’s famous refrain, “send a man to the moon by the end of the decade.”


When planning organizational goals, how important is a deadline and a specific destination?  I would argue to NASA it is everything.  Study projects, congressional funding, attracting astronauts, sustaining key independent contracts, retaining the best and brightest assembled around a specific itinerary. 


How important are deadlines and destinations to your organization?  Deadlines force you to thrash early and then ship (see April 14 blog post).  Destinations provide direction.  If we agree that Jim Collin’s challenge to get the right people on the bus and then put them in the right seats is essential to success- can we also agree that the bus better be headed to a compelling destination?