Cull all IT Contractors (and PMs) under 35

[bogeyman]

Then we might deliver some projects that actually work.

If we were to commission the 1960s Severn Bridge today, it would go half as far, and cost 15 times as much.

[expat]

to become good at anything take 10 years; or 10,000 hours.

[Mich the Tester]

Then we might deliver some projects that actually work.

If we were to commission the 1960s Severn Bridge today, it would go half as far, and cost 15 times as much.

Did you know that the entire Apollo programme cost $135 billion when taking inflation into account?

That's about the price of;
- 1 NHS patient registration system (incomplete)
- 1 national ID card system (incomplete, mercifully)

It's small beer compared to the price of saving banks from their own incompetence, and only enough to keep GM running for a few months or so.

Were NASA's engineers an incredibly efficient bunch or are today's business and economic 'leaders' incompetent wasters?

[bogeyman]

Were NASA's engineers an incredibly efficient bunch or are today's business and economic 'leaders' incompetent wasters?

Mitch,

I have huge admiration for the NASA guys of the 1960s.

They were the guys who could just 'do stuff'. They could just make it happen. Real engineers of our dad's and granddad's generation. The guys with the right stuff, and a pipe-full of tobacco and a slide rule.

With JFK's blessing and $Xbn commitment, they were unleashed, free of most of the NASA management, and they got the job done.

It seems incredible now, but I witnessed it, as a lad, in 1969.

We can't do that kind of thing today.

It's a lost art.

No wonder so many young people now think it was a hoax!

[PM-Junkie]

Mitch,

I have huge admiration for the NASA guys of the 1960s.

They were the guys who could just 'do stuff'. They could just make it happen. Real engineers of our dad's and granddad's generation. The guys with the right stuff, and a pipe-full of tobacco and a slide rule.

With JFK's blessing and $Xbn commitment, they were unleashed, free of most of the NASA management, and they got the job done.

It seems incredible now, but I witnessed it, as a lad, in 1979.

We can't do that kind of thing today.

It's a lost art.

...and the reason is all the health and safety and PC crud that the jobsworths have layered on. The skills are still there, the intent is still there, it's just that people are handcuffed by idiots.

[TykeMerc]

...and the reason is all the health and safety and PC crud that the jobsworths have layered on. The skills are still there, the intent is still there, it's just that people are handcuffed by idiots.

Very true.

The engineering skills to go back to the moon exist, what we lack is the will to do it.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Did you know that the entire Apollo programme cost $135 billion when taking inflation into account?

That's about the price of;
- 1 NHS patient registration system (incomplete)
- 1 national ID card system (incomplete, mercifully)

It's small beer compared to the price of saving banks from their own incompetence, and only enough to keep GM running for a few months or so.

Were NASA's engineers an incredibly efficient bunch or are today's business and economic 'leaders' incompetent wasters?

If you want to play that game...

If [UK Public] spending since 1997 had risen no faster than inflation, we would be spending a third less than we do now, and could abolish income tax, VAT, and council tax entirely.

linky

[HairyArsedBloke]

Mitch,

I have huge admiration for the NASA guys of the 1960s.

They were the guys who could just 'do stuff'. They could just make it happen. Real engineers of our dad's and granddad's generation. The guys with the right stuff, and a pipe-full of tobacco and a slide rule.

With JFK's blessing and $Xbn commitment, they were unleashed, free of most of the NASA management, and they got the job done.

It seems incredible now, but I witnessed it, as a lad, in 1969.

We can't do that kind of thing today.

It's a lost art.

No wonder so many young people now think it was a hoax!

I was watching the stuff on telly the other day. It scare me tulipless!!!! To try and do such a thing with that amount of computing etc - insane.

[Churchill]

I was watching the stuff on telly the other day. It scare me tulipless!!!! To try and do such a thing with that amount of computing etc - insane.

They did it because they didn't have masses of computing power, in fact they proved they didn't need it!

[TykeMerc]

They did it because they didn't have masses of computing power, in fact they proved they didn't need it!

They had plenty of computing power in the brains of the very talented engineers with their slide rules and drafting tables. Modern computing power just makes the calculations, design, engineering manufacturing and drafting easier. The engineering principles and science are unchanged.