...Laboratory by vpnacek | studymode.com Jet Propulsion Laboratory Harvard Business School Case 9-110-031 1.1 Should Gentry Lee recommend launch or delay for the Mars Biological Explorer (MBE) mission? Gentry Lee should recommend the launch for the MBE mission. As stated in the case study, Gentry Lee is introduced to the project with a significant amount of experience working with NASA and interplanetary exploration missions (Kaplan and Mikes, 2010). Multiple review boards took place to discuss in detail the consequences and likelihood of risks occurring. Tiger teams were established to find resolutions to existing problems weeks before the launch date. The case study eludes to a high probability of the budget increasing if the launch is delayed, and the probability the mission would not be successful was low. Because of this, Gentry Lee should recommend the launch of the MBE mission. 1.2 What are the most important factors to consider in this mission? JPL invested substantial time “Identifying, measuring, and applying risk factors against the value opportunity and the cost of failure” (VMware 2013). This methodology was a key process to deciding to launch or delay the launch of MBE. One factor that had an impact is regarding the current team members. Because CalTech operated Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), it is likely that the majority of engineers part of the mission team, were new graduates from CalTech. At that moment in the project life cycle, engineers have been...
Words: 1774 - Pages: 8
...pure risk as any of us can conceive. A rocket blows upon launch or it doesn’t. A space craft reaches its destination planet or it doesn’t. The craft lands safely on the planet surface or it doesn’t. We can easily envision these risks, and this makes the process of managing them relatively transparent. Even better, the risk management jargon needed to understand the risk management process is minimal. Mostly, this case requires a thorough reading and some deep thinking. What better way to introduce good risk management than with such a transparent example. Should Gentry Lee delay or go forward with the Mars Biological Explorer (MBE) mission? This is, of course, the over-riding question for this case and your analysis should answer it. However, in coming to your recommendation you will need to identify and discuss the key risk management processes implemented by Lee and the role each played in aiding you with your recommendation. As part of your analysis, place the problem faced by Gentry Lee in its historical context. For example, what are the effects of JPL’s and NASA’s past failures on the many players involved and the risk management program that Lee implemented? The following questions should help launch your analysis of this case. Use your answers to them as a jumping off point for your thought processes. 1. In what ways are the risks that JPL faces similar to those faced by other firms? In what ways are they different? 2. Who are JPL’s stakeholders...
Words: 719 - Pages: 3
...Your analysis should address the following questions, although not necessarily in this order. 1. In what ways are the risks that JPL faces similar to those faced by other firms? In what ways are they different? 2. Who are JPL’s stakeholders? How different are they from the stakeholders in a publicly-traded firm? 3. Why do these differences matter, that is, do the differences identified by questions 1 & 2 affect how the MBE program’s risks are managed? 4. How closely does Lee’s risk management process follow the five steps of risk management – identify, evaluate, choose, implement and monitor? a. Identify. How does Lee’s program ensure all risks are identified? b. Evaluate and choose. How are the risks evaluated and the key risks selected? c. Implement. Effective risk management allocates the greatest resources towards mitigating the most critical risks. How does Lee’s program accomplish this? Absent such a clearly defined allocation process, what might go wrong with a resource allocation process? d. Monitor. Risk management is an ongoing process. Risks must be constantly monitored to ensure that mitigation strategies are working and emerging risks identified. What features of Lee’s program did this? 5. How does JPL balance the costs of risk with the costs of mitigating those risks? How does it balance the conflicting needs for control and creativity? 6. Risk appetite is defined as the amount of risk a business is prepared to tolerate at any...
Words: 378 - Pages: 2
