Doing Things Right Articles

Engineering services and short courses for the aerospace industry

Tom Sarafin, president of Instar, has been writing a series of articles that introduce and explore the Ten Principles for Doing Things Right in Space Programs, occasionally with guest authors. These articles are posted on this site as they are released and are available for free downloading. Once these articles are completed, we plan to assemble them into a book. Please send us any comments you might have on these articles.

Available articles: revision date

  1. How Can We Reduce Cost and Still Ensure a Successful Space Mission? Oct 2002
  2. Understanding the Problem Feb 2000
  3. Common Problems in Developing a Space or Launch System (Part 1) Mar 2000
  4. Common Problems in Developing a Space or Launch System (Part 2) Apr 2000
  5. Ten Principles for Doing Things Right Oct 2002
  6. Adopt the Right Attitude Jun 2000
  7. Invest in Knowledge and Understanding Oct 2002
  8. Instill Ownership and Responsibility Oct 2002
  9. Instill Ownership and Responsibility (continued) Oct 2002
  10. Constantly Seek Ways to Improve Teamwork Nov 2000
  11. Concurrent Engineering: Transforming Buzz Words into Good Business Dec 2000
  12. Follow a Sound Engineering Approach - Part 1: Systems Engineering Process Jan 2001
  13. Follow a Sound Engineering Approach - Part 2: Developing Requirements Mar 2001
  14. Follow a Sound Engineering Approach - Part 3: Developing a Verification Plan Jun 2001
  15. Follow a Sound Engineering Approach - Part 4: Verification Logic Jun 2001
  16. Follow a Sound Engineering Approach - Part 5: The Engineer's Responsibility Nov 2001
  17. Reduce Total Cost through Good Engineering Mar 2002
  18. Reduce Total Cost through Good Engineering - Part 2: Goals for the RASCAL Payload Interface Jun 2002
  19. Keep Everything as Simple as Possible Sep 2003
  20. Keep Everything as Simple as Possible - Part 2: Observations of a Master Jan 2001