NASA’s Ayman Qaddumi delivers lecture at RJ on key principles of program and project success
Feb - Amman
The seminar was held at RJ headquarters on Feb. 1, attended by RJ’s Acting President/CEO Captain Haitham Misto and the top management, staff and public working in the field of corporate quality.
Qaddumi said that the first of seven principles that lead to the success of companies is establishing a clear and compelling vision that clarifies the focus of the organization.
Early in its history, NASA was provided a clear vision by President John F. Kennedy: to “land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth”.
This long-term, billion-of-dollars target was realized simply due to the clarity of the vision.
The second principle, said Qaddumi, involves securing sustained support from inside and outside the organization. This enables long-term program stability required for the development of projects, and assures of the best outcome.
Qaddumi said a strong leadership and management forms the third key principle. Such leadership is able to identify and develop other leaders and technical staff within the organization, but that also relies on defining clear lines of authority and demanding accountability, with the leader maintaining ultimate responsibility.
He added that organizations have to facilitate wide, open communication where an open-door policy is encouraged. Traditional practices, on the other hand, can lead to passivity and complacency, he said.
According to Qaddumi, effective engineering systems can be implemented and integrated by developing clear, stable objectives and requirements from the outset, and by establishing clear and clean system interfaces.
This principle also requires using modern information technology and analytical tools to model and simulate system performance.
A strong organization can develop based on three pillars: the structure of the company; the culture of the company with the selection of employees who share language, traditions and way of thinking; and creative ways to reward the staff.
The last principle, said Qaddumi, involves a continuous and evolving risk-management process. NASA, for example, he said, always takes the risk of loss of crew and of the mission into consideration when it makes decisions.
This seminar comes under an agreement, signed between RJ and the Jordan Society for Quality last year, which aims at spreading and disseminating the culture of quality through periodical seminars, in addition to promoting professionalism in quality sciences and practical applications through workshops.
Captain Haitham Misto expressed pride in the fact that Jordanian experts of Qaddumi’s caliber work in such a prestigious organization as NASA and expressed satisfaction in RJ’s cooperation with the Jordan Society for Quality, whose initiatives help instill the concept of quality.
He said that RJ works on improving the quality of all its procedures and services by using scientific and practical methods according to the best international practices, with the aim of gaining their passengers’ trust and satisfaction.
Qaddumi started his journey at NASA 18 years ago as a computer engineer; throughout these years, he accomplished many major projects and programs in space and aviation.
Recently he established a company, JACQ Tech, located in NASA’s Johnson Space Center, to help bring innovative technical solutions that drive excellence into Jordan and the Middle East.
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