| "I tolerate aberations in good performers." |
| "If we have to make a change to the design, you can be sure that they [other sub-contractors] will back up the Brinks truck." |
| "Whenever N people are in a room the problem is with the N+1st person." Gene tells the story of progressively calling more engineers into his office as the 'problem' was always with someone not in the office - "Well, then, get them in here too." |
| GIGO ("Guy-Go") = Garbage in, garbage out |
| Relevant to being contracted to do something that you think is dumb... The MIT response is "MIT won't do anything dumb" [not even if paid.] The corporate response was "Are we more patriotic than the U.S. government?" [i.e., if they want to pay to have it done who are we to say no?] |
| "They've got a whole building of green eye shaders there with nothing better to do than find a mistake in your proposal." |
| "They're a mafia ..." |
| It's like getting a noodle through a straw: to get something done "there's got to be a blower on one end and a sucker on the other." |
| "Better is the emeny of Good Enough." Russian Navy Admiral |
| "You're already seeing the wastefulness of travel... It is essential sometimes like Quarterly Progress Reports." |
| "Go into negociations with your hands clean. ... Whatever you say has to be 100% right; even if it's 99.9% correct they'll home in on the 0.1% and get you." |
| There are only three things that count (the three S's): $ (dollars), schedule, and scope. |
| "Unk-Unks" : unknown unknows - an engineering $ placeholder for surprises between design and prototype. |
| "We've got honey pots all over the place..." |
| "He's at a level where he's not evaluating the proposal, he's evaluating the proposer": Gene, as Technical Manager on a proposal, was drilled on a tiny matter by a Vice President at the meeting to have the proposal approved. The train of questions finally ended with Gene saying: "No, I didn't do that, not enough time". After the grilling he was told by a third party "He's [the VP] at a level where he's not evaluating the proposal, he's evaluating the proposer. He wanted to see if you'd fabricate information." |
| "It's easier to grow an organization than shrink one." |
| "I've heard a lot hogwash presentations..." |
| The Test of a Manager: Being able to get a program completed sucessfully using a team of people with a variety of skill levels, i.e., not all super stars. |
| The story of the Sonar Buoys: salt plugs for battery power and delayed action ones to sink after 30 days: the holes were plugged up by over-zealous worker and 5000 were delievered. Whole company called together and Boss announced "I'm bullshit and I don't know who to fire - maybe all of you." |
| Large meetings are useful for information exchange and status but program decisions are made by one person often sending a draft to others for devils-advocate comments. |
| "My role is to clear the decks so you can do what needs to be done." |
| "There is no accomplishment in an organized mediocrity; better to have sloppy excellence." |
| "Plan for the worst and hope for the best." |
| "Ask not for whom the bell tolls..." |
| "We're in deep yogurt" |
| To the son whose parents want a grandchild: "Not your problem." |
| Never put something into writing that couldn't show up on the front page of the New York Times. |
| "You have to decide if you're fighting to win or fighting to get hurt." |
| I'd prefer to see guys in Government who have some experience in the world, some previous career. Wilson was President of Princeton... |
| "To make a long story short..." |
| "I hope someone is working to save the green on this planet." |
| "A person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still." |
| "A useless task: arranging the deck chairs on the titanic. Well, some people might like it." |
| "The truth is easy to remember." |
| "Sam Sneed story: 'I find the more I practice the luckier I get.' " |
| Attending daughters highschool awards: daughter asks: "Daddy are you proud of me?" "I knew something was off but bit my lip and said 'I sure am. But most of all I hope you're proud of yourself.' " |
| "Daddy, what is a gentleman?" "You know you've been out with a gentleman when you get home and feel like a lady." |
| Talking with Halle (grand-daughter 5.5 years old) she asks "What is War?" and their discussion ends with Halle saying: "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard." |