A Typical Week In A 1-Person Satellite Project

Into every satellite a little grunt work must fall.  Today you get to read the exceedingly boring but entirely real details of a typical week of satellite construction and project management.

Outreach Work

The flight pins and first mission patches have arrived for the 76 exceptional contributors to Calliope!  This week I will be packaging up approximately 76 bundles to mail out.  Oh, and I have to write this week's project update-- which you're reading now.

Assembly Work

To build the satellite, I have to solder electronics parts onto a PCB board.  This is a straightforward task requiring only a modicum of coordination, and I've been doing the soldering work in fits and starts over the past months.  However, I hit a snag with soldering parts.  My tried and true pistol-grip soldering iron has become bent, so I picked up a new pencil-type iron.  Alas, on a test project, the new iron failed.  I ended up with solder 'whiskers'  on some of the connections.  Whiskers is an ugly and known case of 'bad soldering'.  So I need to get a new iron and test it out before I risk further soldering on real Calliope parts.

I've been holding off putting the actual radio transceiver and amp on the radio board, and the BasicX-24 onto the computer board, because those are the only components that I do not yet have duplicates (due to their high cost).  I don't want to screw them up.  Still, I would like to put them in this week or next.  Ideally, I can finish one set of all the boards to begin integration and testing.

Integration Work

Integration is often the hardest and most detail-oriented part of any mission.  In theory, I have all these circuits and sensors and pieces that work okay in isolation.  Putting them all together and ensuring they talk to each other-- that'll be the trick.

In particular, I need to tackle the BasicX-24 programming in earnest.  I had tested the sensors earlier using the Midi rig to ensure the sensors worked.  That means the sensors were hooked into the ICube-X-recommended interface and then hooked into a laptop computer.

However, for actual flight, I need to hook them up to the BasicX-24 board that will actually fly, and that is substantially less powerful and less intuitive than using the full-blown laptop with GUI-based software that I tested under.  It's sort of like switching from camping in a mobile home to backpacking with a tent and sleeping bag.  Sure, it's all rough living, but one is more bare bones than the other.

Management Theories – IV, Analysis of X, Y and Z and C. Theories

Management Theories – IV, Analysis of X, Y and Z and C.  Theories.

Hasan Yahya, Ph.D

While McGregor’s  Theory X & Y, Tends to categorize people as one type or another: either being unwilling or unmotivated to work, or being self motivated towards work. Threats and disciplinary action are thought to be used more effectively in this situation, although monetary rewards can also be a prime motivator to make Theory X workers produce more. William Ouchi’s Theory Z, Believes that people are innately self motivated to not only do their work, but also are loyal towards the company, and want to make the company succeed

Differences, however between X and Y in one side, and theory Z and C. in the other. In terms of Leadership, Authority, conflict situations, and performance.

In terms of Leadership Theory X leaders would be more authoritarian, while Theory Y leaders would be more participative. But in both cases it seems that the managers would still retain a great deal of control.

In theory Z , managers would have to have a great deal of trust that their workers could make sound decisions. Therefore, this type of leader is more likely to act as “coach”, and let the workers make most of the decisions.

In terms of Authority As mentioned above, McGregor’s managers, in both cases, would seem to keep most of the power and authority. In the case of Theory Y, the manager would take suggestions from workers, but would keep the power to implement the decision. In theory Z, the manager’s ability to exercise power and authority comes from the worker’s trusting management to take care of them, and allow them to do their jobs. The workers have a great deal of input and weight in the decision making process

In Conflict Situations: X and Y,  type of manager might be more likely to exercise a great deal of “Power” based conflict resolution style, especially with the Theory X workers. Theory Y workers might be given the opportunity to exert some flexible “Negotiating” strategies to solve their own differences. While Conflict in the Theory Z , would involve a great deal of communication, collaboration, discussion and negotiation. The workers would be the ones solving the conflicts, while the managers would play more of a “third party arbitrator” role. Unlike theories X and Y, Theory Z in fact, emphasizes more frequent performance appraisals, but slower promotions.

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