Lessons from Apollo 13 in a Time of Pandemic

BBC Radio Shropshire asked me about lessons NASA learned from the Apollo 13 mission, which splashed down 50 years ago today. Some thoughts after that mini-interview (which you can hear at the link below)…

Rocket science is tough, but the human factor is tougher.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is tough, but the human factor is tougher to manage.

Everything is interrelated. Thinking about just one slice of a problem in a complex system isn’t enough, but nobody can see the entire system – an entire society – in their head.

NASA found…

Swift, strategic, decisive action is a must, but needs to be well grounded, not just a knee-jerk reaction.

It is imperative for everybody to be devoted to truth and to a shared mission. Disagreements have to be based in facts, not egos. Then leadership can focus on prioritizing, quickly auditing resources, delegating with trust in each team, and communicating.

Decisions can and should be made at the lowest possible level.

There’s no substitute for experience, but rigorous training is the next best thing.

The specialists in each part of the system can collaborate to figure out ripple effects.

Assessing and managing risk has to be real, not a tick-box exercise. Mistakes have to be discussed openly and really learned from.

Resilience is indispensable.

With all of that, teamwork, ingenuity & rational processes can solve a nearly impossible problem.

Very few countries and very few organizations approach #pandemic2020 this way. We need system thinking. We are getting mostly hasty patchwork solutions that don’t dovetail, and some are poorly designed for even one narrow problem. I can think of one such solution in one of my two countries that is already on Version 4 in less than a month.

Even under the extreme stress of Apollo 13, NASA did not ‘shoot from the hip’ or descend into finger-pointing. NASA’s methods worked, admittedly with good luck at key points. We can find better ways of coping with #COVID-19 if we stop flailing and tackle this pandemic NASA-style. So let’s do that. The sooner, the better.

BBC Radio Shropshire Mini-Interview 2020-04-17 (Eric & Clare Breakfast show)