What the Challenger Disaster Actually Teaches Us: When Rules Replace Judgment V2

If you’re old enough to remember it, the explosion is probably the part that stands out. But in the work I do now, I see the Challenger Disaster through a different lens: It’s a reminder of what happens when an 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, and unintentionally creates downstream risk for the teams who come next.