Topic: Implement a universal healthcare system for all citizens within the United
States by 15 years.
Introduction:
-Clearly states the goal in specific and measurable terms
-Outlines the necessary background that the reader will need to understand the nature of the goal and circumstances in which its achievement was, is, or will be attempted. In your paper you will address that background in detail
Analysis of factors that made or may make your goal achievable (or unachievable!):
-Identify 5-10 generalizable factors
-Briefly note how each is related to your goal
-When you write your paper, you will write a fairly detailed analysis of how each factor applies in the case of your goal
As the grading rubric below indicates, this will be the most important part of your term paper!
Process that was used, or that you recommend be used, to achieve your goal:
-Grounded in the factors you have analyzed
-Brief sketch of the choices you recommend be made
-In the paper, justify those choices with respect to the factors you previously analyzed
Comparison of your analysis to Apollo:
-Compare your goal to Apollo based on the same factors you previously analyzed
-Summarize factors on which Apollo was similar or different
-In the paper, add specific details to that comparison
Conclusion:
-Draw out important points that can be learned from your analysis about how big things get done
References:
-A complete list of all sources used, in any standard reference style and consistent with your citation style
A few tips:
Things that can make it easier to achieve the goal:
The goal itself:
A compelling goal
A specific goal
A realistic goal
The circumstances:
A reason to act (in Apollo this was competition, but many types of reasons are possible)
A sense of urgency (which might come from a deadline or from external events)
A crisis can make some decisions possible that would not be possible at other times
Potential for support:
Political support
Public support
Existing expertise:
A sufficient set of existing knowledge
Experience with work of the type of work that needs to be done (e.g., the systems engineering for Apollo was first developed in the Air Force missile programs)
An ability to predict likely outcomes
Available resources
Adequate resources (money, qualified workforce, …)
Other interested parties who can bring resources you don’t have (e.g., in Apollo, overseas locations for tracking stations)
Adequate existing technology to build on
Adequate infrastructure
Ways of organizing the effort
The ability to construct an effective bureaucracy to organize the effort
Ways of leveraging market forces (e.g., competition between contractors)
An ability to start some key work before making the big decision (e.g., Eisenhower started work on the F-1 engine long before Kennedy decided on Apollo)
An ability to try things out in pieces and learn as you go
Simultaneously pursuing multiple alternatives can sometimes be helpful
Leadership
Many types of leadership are important (decision makers, consensus builders, technical expertise, …)
An inclination to face challenges head on and to act boldly
A willingness to take risks in ways that balance risk and reward
Perseverance in the face of adversity
Clear accountability can help to maintain public and political support
Challenges that may exist are also important factors to consider. Examples include:
Goals and circumstances
Opposition to the goal itself
Many goals are constantly competing for attention
The circumstances very strongly influence the decisions that can be made
Some other societal goals may impose limits on what you can do (e.g., environmental impact may limit where you can build facilities)
Priorities and interests change over time
It is hard to maintain a sense of urgency over an extended period of time
Geography can impose limits (as it did with where the Soviet Union built the N1)
Program Management
Controlling resource allocation to get the needed resources to the most critical tasks is essential
When trading off between schedule, cost and capability, you can control only two
Slowing things down (e.g., to accommodate technical challenges or limited resources) can increase overall costs
Risks of many types need to be managed (safety, cost, schedule, …)
Complex organizations are inherently hard to coordinate
Many kinds of communication are needed; a single hierarchy can not manage it all
The structure of the organization(s) working on the task has serious consequences
Coordination can beat direction when the tasks are easily separated
You will need resources to deal with “unknown unknowns” (unanticipated problems)
A flexible and responsive decision process is needed to respond to challenges and capitalize on opportunities
At the outset, you may not know what’s feasible, but you need to know what’s feasible to make good decisions
Things involving people are harder to predict than things involving systems or physics
Decision Making
All decisions are technical, and all decisions are political
Someone needs to have the final say, and who that is matters
Access to trusted technical expertise is important
Power structures are important, but they are not the whole story; internal politics is important as well
Power struggles can get in the way of principled decisions that need to be made
The effects of self-interest need can’t be eliminated, but they need to be limited
Getting incentives right will help the right things to happen more naturally
Checks and balances can help to minimize bad decisions, but they also slow down the process. So you want some of this, but you can have too much of a good thing.
Both the rational actor and the bureaucratic politics model have explanatory power.
Compromise is often necessary when different interests favor different outcomes
People might want to do the same thing for different reasons
Delegating decisions to the lowest possible level makes it possible to get more done
People at the working level know a lot, but it is hard to move all of that information to the people who are making decisions
Some information must be confidential, which limits participation in some decisions
Planning can help react to emergencies, even emergencies you did not plan for