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by GlenTheMachine 1044 days ago
Hi. I'm Henshaw of Rule 37. AMA.
8 comments

Well, you can tell us about the event/project that led you to coin that rule and how it panned out...
It's been long enough that my memories are fuzzy, but I believe it was this:

https://ssl.umd.edu/ranger

The project was highly successful from an R&D perspective, but it never flew in space for a variety of reasons. SOme of those were related to a lack of funding and/or national commitment to spacecraft servicing, and some were due to us not executin the program as expeditiously as we probably should have.

Thanks for the clear line of blame.
Rule 46. They can ask you anything, but you don't have to answer.
What's a line of blame?
I took it to mean clearly delineated responsibilities (i.e. who gets blamed when a part / aspect doesn't work).

If there are unclear boundaries between responsibilities, things will fall through the gaps when one group assumes another will take care of something.

Furthermore, when people are held responsible for quality completion of a task, they are often more driven to achieve the task at-quality. This must be balanced with not over-taxing them, but that's a given.
Correct!
I take it to mean when blame is being aimed you are not in the line of fire.
interesting - I understand it differently, namely as in:

"at a project's beginning, define rules such as 'if component X explodes, it is team ABC's fault'".

context:

> 37. (Henshaw's Law) One key to success in a mission is establishing clear lines of blame.

Blame is just another word for responsibility. If you don’t have clear lines of blame you don’t have clear responsibilities.
think org chart. now put your cynical hat on.
Ah, so now we know who to blame for making this list so long. Success won't escape us this time.
What work are you doing these days?
What's the backstory, was there a situation where you were the blamee (or the blamer?)
Who doesn't love grapplers?