Mark Mandeles's guest appearances

Mark Mandeles

Acquisition Talk

Bill Johnson

Andrew Hunter

Todd Harrison

Matt Nelson

Peter Levine

Dan Ward

John Whitley

Tate Nurkin

Katherine Boyle

Bruce Cameron

Will Thomas

John Kuehn

Pete Newell

Steve Blank

Lisa Porter

OwlTail

In this episode Mark and I talk about whether science is slowing down, the benefits of positive feedback loops, what the central task of analysts ought to be, how we create high reliability organizations, what's the role of history in weapon system projects, and much more.I also ask Mark about how some of the great thinkers of the 20th century should impact our thinking about acquisition. From Charles Perrow on high reliability organizations and Martin Landau on the benefits of social redundancy, to Friedrich Hayek on the uses of knowledge and Herbert Simon on, well, almost everything. But Mark's favorite philosopher of the 20th century is Karl Popper, who has much to teach us on falsification, the growth of knowledge, and the open society.I again can't recommend enough reading through some of his great papers, mostly online for free at independent.academia.edu, including the B-52 Development book, Systems Design and Project Management Principles, and Needs and Opportunities in US Naval History which we discuss on the program. His books are also available to buy on Amazon.This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. Soundtrack by urmymuse: "reflections of u". You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.

In this episode Mark and I talk about whether science is slowing down, the benefits of positive feedback loops, what the central task of analysts ought to be, how we create high reliability organizations, what's the role of history in weapon system projects, and much more. I also ask Mark about how some of the great thinkers of the 20th century should impact our thinking about acquisition. From Charles Perrow on high reliability organizations and Martin Landau on the benefits of social redundancy, to Friedrich Hayek on the uses of knowledge and Herbert Simon on, well, almost everything. But Mark's favorite philosopher of the 20th century is Karl Popper, who has much to teach us on falsification, the growth of knowledge, and the open society. I again can't recommend enough reading through some of his great papers, mostly online for free at <a href="http://independent.academia.edu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">independent.academia.edu</a>, including the B-52 Development book, Systems Design and Project Management Principles, and Needs and Opportunities in US Naval History which we discuss on the program. His books are also available to buy on Amazon. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. Soundtrack by urmymuse: "reflections of u". You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at <a href="http://AcquisitionTalk.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AcquisitionTalk.com</a>.

Organizing for technology change with Mark Mandeles (part 2)

In this episode of Acquisition Talk, host Eric Lofgren speaks with Mark Mandeles about a wide range of topics in defense management. Mark has had a fascinating career and has written numerous books and articles including The Development of the B-52 and Jet Propulsion, and, Military Transformation Past and Present.Mark talks with me about how military organization impacted the innovation process, why it is impossible to predict the growth of scientific knowledge, how the B-52 development turned out to be a stunning success, the role of strong technical managers in a process-oriented culture, how the Air Force promised business efficiency to gain its independence, and much more.He also describes some big problems with the systems program office concept, as well as other aspects of the defense management process as laid out in the 5000 series regulations. Mark argues that traditional notions of business efficiency are ill-equipped to handle uncertainty. He recommends and provides examples of an alternative concept based on system design principles.Mark is a fantastic resource for thinking about complexity in defense management, and has been a constant source of inspiration. He has posted much of his writing online for free at Academia.edu, including the B-52 Development book, Systems Design and Project Management Principles, and Needs and Opportunities in US Naval History.This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. Soundtrack by urmymuse: "reflections of u". You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.

In this episode of Acquisition Talk, host Eric Lofgren speaks with Mark Mandeles about a wide range of topics in defense management. Mark has had a fascinating career and has written numerous books and articles including The Development of the B-52 and Jet Propulsion, and, Military Transformation Past and Present. Mark talks with me about how military organization impacted the innovation process, why it is impossible to predict the growth of scientific knowledge, how the B-52 development turned out to be a stunning success, the role of strong technical managers in a process-oriented culture, how the Air Force promised business efficiency to gain its independence, and much more. He also describes some big problems with the systems program office concept, as well as other aspects of the defense management process as laid out in the 5000 series regulations. Mark argues that traditional notions of business efficiency are ill-equipped to handle uncertainty. He recommends and provides examples of an alternative concept based on system design principles. Mark is a fantastic resource for thinking about complexity in defense management, and has been a constant source of inspiration. He has posted much of his writing online for free at <a href="http://Academia.edu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Academia.edu</a>, including the B-52 Development book, Systems Design and Project Management Principles, and Needs and Opportunities in US Naval History. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. Soundtrack by urmymuse: "reflections of u". You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at <a href="http://AcquisitionTalk.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AcquisitionTalk.com</a>.

System design principles with Mark Mandeles(part 1)