1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SRB Success Story
Steve Jurczyk, SRB Chair
Bill Ochs, Project Manager
Tahani Amer, Review Manager
Project Management Challenge 2010
Independent Review in Action
February 9-10, 2010
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Used with Permission

2. Overview
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• Project Objective
• SRB Chair Perspective
• Project Perspective
• RM Perspective
• Lessons Learned
• Conclusion
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3. LDCM Overview
Independent Program
Assessment Office
LDCM Data Needed to Address NASA Earth
Mission Objectives Science Focus Areas, Questions, and Applications
• Provide continuity in the multi-decadal
Landsat land surface observations to study, Focus Areas Science Questions
predict, and understand the consequences • Carbon Cycle, - What are the changes in global land
of land surface dynamics Ecosystems, & cover and land use, and what are their
causes?
• Land cover/use change Biogeochemistry
• Human settlement and population - How do ecosystems, land cover &
• Water & Energy Cycle biogeochemical cycle respond to and affect
• Ecosystem dynamics environmental change?
• Landscape scale carbon stocks • Earth Surface & Interior - What are the consequences of land cover
• Resource management/societal needs and land use change for human societies
and the sustainability of ecosystems?
- What are the consequences of increased
human activities on coastal regions?
Instruments
• Operational Land Imager – BATC
• Optional Thermal Infrared Sensor – GSFC
Spacecraft
• GDAIS
Mission Team
• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Dept. of Interior’s United States Geological Survey (USGS)
Landsat 7 data used to aid Indonesian government with • NASA Kennedy Space Center
tsunami relief efforts (David Skole, Michigan State University)
LRD – December 2012 3

4. LDCM Summary Master Schedule
Independent Program
Assessment Office
BACKUP CHARTS
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5. LDCM SRB Chair Experience – Keys to Success
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• Goal: Help the Project Succeed
• Utilize board experience to communicate lessons learned & identify opportunities
and issues
• Make recommendations consistent with Project requirements
• Use advisories and RFA’s to document opportunities and issues
• Review project responses and provide feedback
• SRB membership – appropriate combination of technical and programmatic
experience
• Extremely important to develop detailed plan for KDP’s
– Begin planning several months prior to the site visit
– Establish communication methodology/plan with the SRB members, Project and
the Convening Authority
– Develop a detailed schedule including deliverables
• Accommodate Project’s Schedule to support reviews
– Subset of SRB members attend lower level reviews
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6. LDCM SRB Chair Experience – Meeting the
Challenges of KDP’s Independent Program
Assessment Office
• SRR/MDR/PNAR and KDP-B
– Agreement on the SRB membership and the ToR
– Reconciliation of Independent Cost Estimate with the Project (and IPAO and
Division and Mission Directorate and Agency PMC)
– Compliance with Agency briefing requirements – documented and
undocumented
– Recommended Launch Readiness Date and Budget to achieve a more
reasonable level of confidence consistent with Agency policy
• PDR/NAR and KDP-C
– Independent verification of SRB member independence due to new policy
regarding Organizational and Personal Conflict of Interest
– Significant change in requirements – Added a second instrument (TIRS)
– Requirement to report to Agency PMC 30 days after the “site visit’
• Held separate events for PDR and NAR/site visit separated by 3 months
– New requirements of NPD 1000.5 Including Joint Confidence Level
• LDCM was the first to develop a JCL prior to KDP-C
• Significant learning curve for everyone, significant effort
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7. LDCM Project SRB Experience
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• Keys to a successful SRB Experience
– Board members with relative experience
• ≈ 30% of LDCM SRB members have past Landsat experience
• Specific GSFC-related experience (including both in-house and out-of-
house experience)
• Independent (of GSFC) reviewers have comparative experience
– Develop a partnership based on communication and trust
– Maintain a productive relationship
• Work together with the SRB (board should not be treated like they are the
“Review Police”)
– Involve SRB members in lower level reviews
Bottom Line: SRB is part of the Mission Team
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8. LDCM Project SRB Experience
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• Meeting challenges associated with missions milestones requires working closely
with the SRB exercising “Keys To Success”
• Leading to KDP-B, LDCM had a over aggressive schedule mandated to it
without Project-held funded schedule
– Worked closely with SRB
»Overcame 5 widely different independent schedules and cost estimates
»Developed achievable LRD recommendation which was approved by Agency
Program Management Council
• Leading to KDP-C, LDCM was one of first projects to do JCL estimate
– Not only did the Project have work with PA&E to overcome challenges associated
with developing JCL, but had to develop an approach to working with SRB to
produce Project/SRB JCL
»Project developed JCL
»Work with SRB on an agreed set of inputs to model (risks and uncertainty
factors)
»Project maintains and runs JCL model
»Went forward through confirmation review process with combined Project/SRB
JCL estimate
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9. LDCM SRB RM Experience – Keys to Success
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• Goal: ensure Project success through the independent reviews process
– Key elements of success:
• Have the right team: Chair, SRB members, and System Review Manager
• Proactive Project Manager/Deputy that follow up with SRB recommendations
and RFAs
• Communicate with SRB members, PM, and PE
• Understand the review requirements and Agency policies
• Unburden the Chair and the SRB members
• Partnership with PE, PM, and SRB members
• Understand the issues and consequences
• Accommodate Agency senior management schedule
• Document the result at every level
• Make it happen!
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10. Lessons Learned
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• Project Lessons Learned
– Start SRB process early
– SRB members with relative experience is extremely important
– Involve SRB in lower level reviews
– Follow-through on commitments
• SRB Lessons Learned
– Detailed planning with Center/Project and early involvement of SRB critical to
successful reviews – document schedule in ToR
– Adequately developing and reconciling/reviewing independent cost and
schedule assessments takes significant time and effort
– Meeting requirement to report to Agency PMC 30 days after the site visit
extremely challenging
• Separate PDR and NAR by at least 3 months
• Review JCL methodology and results prior to NAR
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11. Conclusion
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• The summary key elements of the success are:
– Great cooperation between the SRB and the Project
– SRB members with appropriate expertise and experience
– Understanding the review requirements and policies
– Development of approach to reconcile independent cost and
schedule assessments including JCL
– Can- Do” attitude from both sides - Just do it!
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12. Independent Program
Assessment Office
Back up
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13. New Requirements (SRR/MDR & PDR)
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• Review
– Independent Policy
– NPR 1000.5 & JCL
– Reporting Cycle
• Project
– New Instrument
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14. LDCM PDR/NAR Schedule
Independent Program
Assessment Office
• ToR Submission for Approval May 27, 2009
• Cost & Schedule SRB Chair and IPAO w/ Project – Set expectations GSFC May 27, 2009
• CADRE Delivered by Project June 15, 2009
• Project begins putting data in PBMA June 15, 2009
• SRB – PDR Kickoff Meeting NASA-HQ June 16, 2009
• All Data in PBMA July 2, 2009
• PDR charts available July 7, 2009
• LDCM PDR Maritime Institute July 14-17, 2009
• One- Pager Project lead July 30, 2009
• SRB Risk List Inputs July 27, 2009
• Cost & Schedule JCL Meeting w/Project GSFC August 27, 2009
• Cost and Schedule Meeting w/ Project GSFC October 7, 2009
• SRB- NAR Site Visit Maritime Institute October 14-23, 2009
 Programmatic Analysis w/SRB October 16, 2009
 SRB Deliverables (Inputs to Steve & Tahani) October 16, 2009
 SRB Discussions & JCL Model Run w/SRB Risks October 19-22, 2009
 One Pager SRB/Project to CA Telecon (3:30- 4:30) October 27, 2009
• SRB Telecon to discuss result of JCL November 4, 2009
• SRB Project Pre-brief November 5, 2009
• IPAO Dry Run LaRC November 6, 2009
• Briefing to GSFC CMC GSFC (12:30-4:00) November 10, 2009
• Briefing to ESD HQ (1:00-2:30) November 17, 2009
• Briefing to SMD PMC HQ (1:00-3:00) November 30, 2009
• PA&E AA Pre-Brief HQ (9:00-9:30) December 3, 2009
• Submit draft briefing package to APMC Electronically December 3, 2009
• AA Pre-Brief Telecon December 4, 2009
• Submit final briefing package to APMC Electronically December 11, 2009
• Briefing to APMC KDP- C HQ December 16, 2009
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15. SRR/MDR Review Schedule Independent Program
Assessment Office
ToR Development: Submit for Approval April 1, 2008
Review products and documentation (PBMA) Available April 24, 2008
SRB Kick-Off/Planning April 29, 2008
Project Documentation Re view April-May, 2008
Site Review(Conference Center at the Maritime Institute) May 20-23, 2008
SRB Discussion and Project/Program Out-brief May 23, 2008
SRB Deliverables/Inputs to Steve & Tahani June 10, 2008
Chair/RM Compiled first draft of report and distribute to SRB June 30, 2008
ICE Reconciliation with Project Complete July 8, 2008
ICE complete July 9, 2008
Inputs/changes for SRB Final Report Due July 10, 2008
IPAO Dry Run July 18, 2008
Issued SRB Final Report July 20, 2008
Briefing to GSFC CMC July 25, 2008
Briefing to ESD August 13, 2008
Briefing to SMD PMC August 22, 2008
Submit briefing package to APMC September 2, 2008
Briefing to APMC September 23, 2008
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16. SRB Members Independent Program
Assessment Office
Steve Jurczyk LaRC LDCM Chair
Tahani Amer IPAO- HQ Review Manager
Barbara Stone-Towns IPAO- HQ Cost Analyst
Dave Amason GSFC I&T
Deane Charlson GSFC Communication System
Scott Croomes MSFC System Engineering
Harry Culver GSFC C&DH
Carolyn Dent GSFC Ground System/ SRM
Mike Gazarik LaRC Instrumentation
Dan Helfrich GSFC Mechanical System
Robert Hodson LaRC C&DH
Landis Markley GSFC GNC/Software System
Ron Mueller KSC Launch Vehicle Ops
Lyn Oleson USGS Ground System/Software
Phil Sabelhaus GSFC Mission Design/Project Mgmt.
Steven Scott GSFC Spacecraft System/Mission Ops
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17. SRB Consultants Independent Program
Assessment Office
Name Organization Discipline Area
Bjorn Eng JPL System Engineering
Dennis Hewitt Bay Engineering Thermal Structure
Innovations (BEI)
Sylvia Shen Aerospace Scientist
Michele King Acumen Schedule Analyst
• GSFC, HQ, LaRC, KSC, MSFC, USGS, and Expert Support.
• This SRB is Civil Service Consensus with Expert Support
Board, CS2.
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