These "Web 2.0 and Gen Y" presentations are so packed full of nothing you don't realize it until it's over.

Look, I'm part of Gen Y, albeit only technically. I also happen to work on space missions at a NASA contractor. I don't know if the problem is that my "Gen" can only think in amorphous non-thoughts, but the best thing they could do would be to come up with actual concrete plans of action. Maybe that's going on in closed sessions, but precious little of it is escaping into the wild where I can read about it.

I think I've seen three presentations on this issue, and each has presented the vague wish that NASA do things better... do things more like MySpace or... err.. Facebook. Trouble is, these companies don't DO anything. They provide a place for people to connect with others. If NASA creates a way to connect with people and enable "participatory exploration" (whatever that is), it still must, through -actual- action, provide the 2nd side of that communication.

And therein lies the most difficult part of the equation. I don't have the answer, and indeed I don't know that one exists. It's trivial to coin phrases, and make slides with a word or two and a cool picture. Just like real space missions, however, once the fluffy BD slides are out of the way, you actually need to put meat on 'em bones in the engineering sections.

The world, and NASA, will pay attention to this crap when something concrete is added. Until then it's powerpoint bravado with a single sentence per slide and a hip retro picture from the good ole days.

Oh, and they'd do well to stop referring to themselves as a "Gen".

Until the collaborations produce honest-to-gosh hardware that is better than what has gone before, I don't see the online-collaborative appraoach making a lot of headway.

The thing is, when something goes wrong at MySpace or Facebook, nothing happens. When something goes wrong at NASA, people die.

NASA is not here for social networking or the amusment of young people.

By the way, longest presentation that said nothing. Good work "Gen Y". Next time produce something worthwhile and stop crying wolf. People will listen to you when you have something to say.

This is it??? What a big bunch of nothing. If this truly represents 6-odd months of work by the best and brightest of our new Gen-Yers, it does not bode well for our future.

I think everyone should keep in mind that this is a presentation to a SEDS conference, not to a technical crowd. In the context of this presentation's audience (college students), I think that the author did well in achieving his (presumed) goal of recruitment for NASA, by making the agency seem like a dynamic place to work.

Specific ideas about "connectivity" or Web 2.0 or whatever weren't relevant to his audience.

The tools you mentioned in your presentation are just that, applications without a brain. Unless you state specifically how you are going to use those tools you have not said anything useful. It is the same as pointing at a hammer and expecting someone to visualize a home being built. That was 77 pages of pretty fluff with a photo of a hammer at the end.
I am concerned that hey did not mention a single Enterprise Resource Management tool or a successful implementation of those tools as part of the definition of their collaboration definition effort. Facebook and some of those other applications are stripped down primitive versions of existing collaboration tools. Simple tools like Matrixone, SAP, Windchill when implemented by EXPERIENCED people can create an online collaborative environment of quality, securely effective and fun. The public can be given a role and then they can participate as much as the law allows.
People interacting in the workplace with public input is not a new idea, maybe for NASA, but not this place called reality, where a customers requests are accommodated quickly or the customer is lost. Sooner Trailer or Otis elevator would be implementations to look to for real time direct collaboration between the public and the design/manufacturing process. The question asked in not new, it is just worded differently. I encourage the young folks to contact the two companies I mentioned and ask them about their automations and see what they can learn. I doubt that these folks charter is to identify software applications but process that encourages participation. I give them an A+ for pretty pictures, but sadly a solid F- for useful content. Sorry guys.

I was at this SEDS conference over the weekend at A&M. About 97% of the people their were University Undergrad/Graduate students and all were very space knowledgeable. Not a single person complained about any presentation, even if some were a bit boring at times.

What a bunch of embarrassing nonsense. Are you "Gen Y" authors ADD, ADHD, or just plain stupid? If you can't do better than this, you all should stick to writing picture books for pre-schoolers. As a working engineer, I assure you that there is a lot more to space exploration than catchy sentence fragments and historical photographs. Get back to class, do your homework, and stop complaining that you are not included on our team. Re-apply when you have something useful to offer the workforce!

Some of these comments make me a little sad. I was at the conference, and I must say, I thought Nick's presentation was great. This wasn't the culmination of 6 months of work, nor a definitive statement of what we (I'm 23 and hate the term "Gen Y") can bring to NASA.

What this presentation did was shed a better light on what it is working at JSC with the manned spaceflight program. Many students who are passionate about manned exploration are frustrated with NASA's problems, and I think Nick helped show that there's still a lot going on there thats worth getting involved in.

The second thing is participatory exploration, while it may not be an engineering necessity, is a political necessity. In order to continue getting public funding, its important to keep the public engaged and interested, and that involves letting them participate in some way. I don't think anyone would try to argue that rocket design by Facebook is a good idea.

Finally, its true the slideshow is very shallow. However, that is not necessarily a failing. It's simply a different presentation technique than many of us are used to seeing. The slides were used more as a background and a way to lead into points that Nick wanted to discuss; this is quite different from the "Powerpoint as documentation" method that has become prevalent.

Please, have some faith in us. We're young, but we're dedicated, intelligent and hard-working. The simple fact that there were so many students from across country there to see this presentation and others, during a time of the school year when everything gets to be the busiest should be a good indicator of that fact. I personally look forward to see what the students of my generation do with the foundation we have.

I think I've got to side with the last anonymous on the presentation style, perhaps because it's one that I use myself. I don't put everything that I have to say on my slides and then read them to the audience (who is also reading them on the screen). Rather, I highlight the topics I want to speak about, and use the presentation as a general outline of what I'm talking about and a set of guideposts to get me to the conclusion. This avoids the tendency some have to skip presentations and review the powerpoint afterward, as you actually have to hear what I have to say for the slides to really make sense.

I was also at the conference, staffing the NSS-NT display table, and I was impressed with the raw potential on display. Sure, there's a lot they don't know. They're in college for crying out loud. And speaking of crying out loud, if you look and listen you'll see that these youngsters are crying out for guidance on how they can help make this space thing happen and forge their paths into the future, and what do they get from the peanut gallery?

packed full of nothing
can only think in amorphous non-thoughts
Next time produce something worthwhile
What a big bunch of nothing
Are you authors ADD, ADHD, or just plain stupid?
you all should stick to writing picture books for pre-schoolers

Nice. How about structuring it a bit better as constructive criticism (because I'll admit a lot of the replies did have at least some modicum of constructive suggestion, however backhanded), rather than as a glass of water in the face. You don't grow flowers by stomping on them when they try to grow. Rather, you cultivate them to help them reach their fullest potential. I was there at the conference telling them about meteorites and aerogel (a huge hit) and Moon rocks and weak stability trajectory boundaries and ISS science and more. What was the peanut gallery's contribution?

As someone who stradles Gen Y and Gen X, these storyboard presentations are interesting (in that they are entertaining) but they don't really have any specifics. But its the message behind them that's so important -- people communicate differently than they used to, that's an awesome message. But some of us are sick of pounding our heads against the wall trying to get the idea across that things don't have to be done the way they have always been done (boring b-roll with dry monotone description on NASA tv could be replaced with blogs, twitter, and youtube!).. anyway, instead we are just sticking to rocket science. As an engineer, I can change an engineering decision, that's where I am qualified to make an impact. As an engineer, I might be the right age, but I have no way to change the way NASA does public affairs.

the other thing I find funny is that people keep misinterpretting this message. as if people are going to stop doing "real work" and twitter instead. they don't realize the message is that people communicate differently. i can picture this presentaiton being giving in the 90s abotu novel things like "e-mail" and "web pages"... and now they are essential tools in doing our jobs. there are related thoughts too -- for instance, colleges are teaching Matlab to engineers instead of Fortran, so if we want a new hire to be effective we need to know they'll be more comfortable and trained to do engineering in a different software environment than what someone 20 years their senior is used to. Likewise someone coming out of college is used to their "electronic life" being different than someone 20 years their senior -- it doesn't make them more or less productive, its just the tools they use are different.

I'd like to second what Ken said above. The decks that Keith is showing are NOT a representation of the talk that goes along with them. What you are seeing is a presentation method that uses the Powerpoint to signpost major points. You don't put detail into the deck. Guy Kawasaki's Powerpoint guide that I try to follow doesn't allow much at all in the way of detail. I've given 6 minute investment pitches using four slides with nothing less than 36 point type on them.

So please don't think that what you are seeing is all these guys have to say or all that they've done.

I am very much part of Gen Y who works at KSC and I don't know why anyone takes these presentations seriously. These are NASA Co-ops/Interns (co-op: An undergrad student who works a few semesters in between school semesters) who are enthusiastic about what they want to do when they graduate but right now have little better to do than put a presentation together. It does not seem like they stopped the slide show to say anything as each slide goes into the next one smoothly. It is a compilation of images from Google with the point that young people need to think about a career in human space flight, nothing more. I thought this was the better one they have put out so far (and these are not the same people I am sure, as the co-ops/interns change each semester) but this was for college kids to see and be a little inspired by. Show it to your children, I'm sure they will appreciate it and get you all to stop your bashing.

Don't these folks have real jobs to do? Or is this their "real" job (yikes)? If I were a young person at NASA I would spend more time learning from the "old guys", and less time complaining about them.

I am a GenY'er at NASA working on the Constellation program for the past year and a half (right out of college). I want to know why we are wasting agency money on things like this? What was the point? It was like watching a squirrel on caffeine.

I do have to say one thing about the difference between Constellation and Apollo. I NEVER thought I would be called "ambitious" so many times working at an agency known for its ambition. NASA's "right stuff" is in remission.

I agree that people need to understand the forum in which this presentation was used. You must also realize that it isn't meant to be a dry 'document every word' presentation. Its made to be thought provoking and enjoyable for a specific audience. If you want the other go sit in another meeting for an hour, don't forget your cup of coffee.

I showed this specific presentation to a nutritionist student a day ago with no interest in space. I made her flip through each chart and ask me questions when she wanted to. Even without Nick's commentary the slides provoked more thoughts on space in this girl's head than anything else ever had. She questioned NASA's history, current state, goals, problems, and even learned something about space science! At the end she said "Woah, I actually enjoyed that!" In my eyes, that is what this presentation was made to do. Its an audience that NASA isn't reaching right now, and that is one of the points that these presentations are trying to get across!

Regarding 'participatory exploration'. Well, a large government contractor (of whom I am employed) has actually implemented internally a 'participatory exploration' approach to allow for employees to provide their ideas for new business areas, new technologies, and ways to improve the company. Most people I have talked to think it is a very good step forward and a step away from the 'you are an employee so do what you are paid to do' approach. It allows for those motivated employees that are out of the box thinkers to better the company they work for in more ways in what their job description defines. Do some research on some of the large corporations in the US, this is not an uncommon or unique program being implemented. CEO's are realizing that ideas can come from people other than those that are paid to think.

A common criticism by all these comments is regarding the person/people that put these slides together. Maybe those whom are posting should take the time to read the biography of the person/people putting these presentations together. I personally know many of these people very well. They are REAL engineers, that are highly respected within NASA because they are hard workers, creative thinkers, and don't just blindly follow. They do REAL work at NASA. These presentations are often done on their free time, for the good of the people, and because they want to see change. They are not the type of people that sit at home at night and do nothing other than post on some website complaints that a bunch of 'kids' are trying to take NASA, its mission, and its dreams outside of the gates of JSC and into the homes and hearts of the people NASA is funded by and serves.

Having seen this presentation, I can appreciate that Gen Y is trying to get people amped about the space program and attempting to instill the belief that anyone can contribute. But as a Gen Y'er myself, even I feel that presentations like this are misguided at best, an attempt to replace skepticism with false enthusiasm.

Collaborative sites like Dell's Idea Storm work because the input received is turned around by Dell into viable solutions that can be applied to the market, affecting their bottom line and addressing the needs of the consumer, the person tied directly to the end product.

NASA has the continual problem of addressing the issue of what their bottom line is, and how it affects those that pay for it: the everyday taxpayer. If NASA does open up the proverbial suggestion box, I could see a few recurrent questions popping up: "what does NASA do for me", "why does NASA exist?", etc., and these need to be addressed so the public knows they're at least getting some type of return on their investment. And even if they can address these questions reasonably, there most likely simply isn't enough money to go around to pay for the programs that people would request of NASA.

I want to know what the constellation program does for me first. Otherwise, I fear that these suggestions will be nothing more than eager kids writing to Santa Claus, unaware that their letters are ending up in a vast dumpster somewhere.

I hope that was a presentation was put together for sixth graders.

Look, it's really not a Gen Y failure we are discussing. Gen Y has a great feel for PR and how to grab their peers' attention in this media overloaded world of ours. Nevertheless, the pretty pictures and Batman-line one-liners are the result of the previous generation's failure to lead and mentor. If NASA senior management(and i don't mean Griffin's hand-picked team)took/had the time to show the up and comers how to look at a problem, develop a plan, and execute it successfully, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Not sure why people expect this to be a technical presentation. I see this presentation as more like the famous Apple vs. IBM ads. There are a lot of intelligent Gen Y folks, and the point (IMO) is that they want to be treated like _human_beings_ in the workplace.

I've worked as an engineer (though I know nothing of NASA), and I can choose where I want to work. If I'm treated like a rat in someone else's bureaucratic maze, I will take my talent elsewhere. If my employer does not provide me a comfortable, rewarding, and inspiring workplace, I will go elsewhere. Maybe that doesn't make sense for someone who has 40 years of vested 401k contributions, but the young, new folks can and will be choosy.

If you don't see a lot of talented young engineers in your workplace, maybe that's because it does not appeal to them.

The first step to get useful collaboration is for NASA to open source some of it engineering tools and data so that people in academia with relevant skills can contribute by doing research. Our model isn't facebook, second life, etc... it is the Royal Society in the age of Newton. Open source software (e.g. Linux, Apache) are great examples of how highly complex things can be built by a community.

Brian hit the nail on the head, as did Ken Murphy. This presentation was targeted to the audience at SEDS and it did its job, from all accounts.

I would like to answer all the people who think the author of this presentation and the other young professionals are a bunch of "do-nothings," though. In the past year and half since I've come back to JSC after finishing graduate school, I've seen some amazing transformations starting to take shape here and I am proud to be a part of them.

For starters, I've participated in a pilot program called NASAsphere that connected people from all across the Agency and with wildly varying backgrounds to demonstrate that social networking tools could be useful for improving communication and collaboration in NASA. I saw some incredible collaborative work going on, even if it was just as simple as giving technical people from different centers a virtual place to talk to each other. I was particularly pleased, though, by the cross-disciplinary discussions between engineers, scientists, PAO staff, and others about different ways to approach each others' problems.

More directly, I've seen the senior leadership of this center embrace the notion that we must be more inclusive of people and new ideas and that our future requires more innovative approaches. Building on the work of the young professionals that formulated a 20 Year Vision for JSC, there are engagement teams - one of which I co-lead with a veteran of the ISS program - with amazingly diverse representation developing proposals for concrete steps to take in making those ideals a reality.

And I still get my regular job done, with the full support of both my contractor and NASA managers for what I'm doing to help make JSC a better place.

With all due respect to the editor (he made some great posts recently to OpenNASA on the issue of powersats and relevance that I enjoyed), this website has gained a reputation with the young professionals I know as presenting a skewed view of our efforts that seems designed to invite the bashing, as opposed to truly constructive criticism.

They feel like posting here is just shouting against the wind. The overwhelmingly negative tone of the responses to this presentation and others only reinforces that view. Many would ask why they should make the effort to respond to anonymous people on the Internet when they have the ear of NASA management and are taking advantage of that opportunity. Perhaps they are right, but I would love to be pleasantly surprised.

Sometimes you have to walk before you can run, and I think that's precisely what is going on right now with the engagement teams. This isn't just about Gen Y/Next Gen/Net Gen, so we're working very hard at capturing ideas and developing solutions for the community as a whole.

The engagement teams report in January. There will be additional opportunities to get people involved, probably on figuring out how to implement the best proposals. I'm looking forward to the -constructive- criticism that will be necessary to move forward.

Editor's note:

You folks do not bother to respond unless repeatedly prodded to do so - and in so doing allow other, contrasting opinions gain an advantage. Small wonder things may look slanted - THAT is why I posted a comment on Opennasa.com to invite y'all to come over here and defend yourselves. This is not the first time that I have prodded you folks to participate.

Believe it or not there are other people out there who do simply not agreed with you. These people have a say in NASA's future as much as you do - whether they work at NASA or pay taxes to fund the agency. If you are just going to complain about other people's opinions and openly question why a dialog is even necessary then you are not going to make much headway in transforming the agency.

Indeed your dismissive tone simply underscores many of the snarky comments that have been made here.

You need to engage with those who would not agree with you and win them over as converts and make them your allies - and learn from them at the same time. Certainly there must be common ground where both sides can learn - and compromises that can be made such that everyone can take ownership. Simply complaining about how nasty your opponents are to you just makes you look silly.

As for your thinly-labeled brag about those in NASA’s Gen Y community "having the ear of NASA management", well guess what: NASA management is wondering where the beef is as far as the follow-up by the NASA Gen Y crowd is after all of these Gen Y presentations are circulated around. You folks were tasked at an SMC earlier this year to come back with ideas and projects but 6 months later nothing has materialized. You have missed a chance to get some additional support with the current management at NASA. Whatever NASA management "ears" you may have access to now may well disappear in a matter of weeks - both at HQ and at your center. You'll then need to start over.

Changes are most certainly need to be made at NASA. Now more than ever. That is the prime reason I continually try and air these Gen Y presentations on NASA Watch so as to allow a debate to occur and for ideas to emerge. If you cannot engage in a little rough and tumble and stand your ground then you have picked the wrong issue to involve yourself in.

If NASA’s current Gen Y team individually or collectively - cannot confront and deal with criticism in a professional fashion - and provide discrete ideas and deliverables (when tasked to do so) to allow their ideas to prove themselves in the workplace, then Gen Y’s ideas will either be ignored (unfortunate) or (more likely) NASA will find new Gen Y representatives to deal with these issues.

The clock is ticking

Metapundit Energy,
I think you raise an excellent point there. Studies of what college students are looking for in an employer shift more and more towards placing priorities on work-life balance, a sense of relevance and accomplishment, and feeling "at home" at work. If we want the best and brightest to come work on the space program, we have to offer what they are looking for.

My uncle is a retired F-15 pilot and now a senior airline captain. He told me that Boeing came to his airline and essentially said, "This is what plane you want. This is when you want it. And this is what you'll get." Airbus asked them what plane they wanted, when they wanted it by, and how many they wanted. As much as it pains me as an American aerospace engineer, who do you think got the sale?

I must be missing something important...

Why is Gen Y so special compared to everyone else?

What have they done to merit this attention?

When did they do this extraordinary feat?

Who in Gen Y has the ear of NASA management?

Where is this extraordinary Gen Y's achievement so we can view it?

Would someone from Gen Y please help me with my confusion.

Keith,
I am not at all dismissive of constructive criticism. I absolutely agree that dissenters need to have a voice and should be listened to. Encouraging the inclusion of a variety of viewpoints is one of the big things the engagement team I'm working on is looking at.

However, I do not think the overt hostility that some of the critics at this site insist upon is at all useful or helpful to anyone.

Editor's note: Why? Did it ever occur to you that there may be a reason behind what you perceive to be hostile - a reason relevant to trying to make changes at NASA?

Your response here is much more confrontational than on OpenNASA, I might add. If the more strident critics want to be listened to, they might want to consider rethinking how their audience will respond.

Besides, you yourself called for the Next Gens to make their "bullies" into "allies" on OpenNASA. While that is a fair point, I think it's a valid question to ask why anyone should play by the bully's rules in the first place. Communication requires honest effort by both parties to consider what the other person has to say.

Editor's note: Welcome to the real world. If you expect everyone to play by your rules then you will get nothing done.

The cross-generational and cross-disciplinary discussions you're advocating are already taking place at JSC. I'm involved in them pretty much every week. In fact, my team is going to talk this evening about how we can frame our message to get buy-in from the 92% of our community that is over the age of 30.

As for your insinuation that discrete deliverables are not being provided, SMC preceded my involvement in this enterprise and I have not been involved in the cross-center and Agency-level discussions. Perhaps that's appropriate since I am a contractor, and not a civil servant. I'm simply not in a position to answer questions about that.

Editor's note: now you have another data point.

I can say without reservation or hesitation that the Next Gen community at JSC has done exactly what has been asked of it by center management. I have seen absolutely no evidence that their support for the engagement teams or the products of the 20 Year Vision effort is close to evaporating. On the contrary, this has evolved into a wider, multidisciplinary, multigenerational endeavor operating with the explicit support of senior staff.

If I minded standing my ground, I wouldn't bother making the posts to NASA Watch that I have under my own name. Personally, I don't mind a "little rough and tumble," though my thoroughly Southern mom always reminds me that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. So, I'm simply trying to tell you that the unnecessarily hostile reception is driving away many other people that would otherwise be more than willing to debate here.

Editor's note: And if you are going to let posts on a blog deter you from tackling larger problems then you are not equipped to deal with the real issues that will emerge when you try and change NASA. Trust me.

You can take that for what it's worth.

@Justin Kugler

"...we must be more inclusive of people and new ideas..."

This is exactly the problem present in the powerpoint slides that set me off. A statement like that is akin to me waking up and saying: "I really have GOT to get to work this morning."

It's a statement of the obvious, without any plan of action. Of course we need to know the goal. The goal has been obvious for several decades (well before my time). No one has yet cracked the nut preventing effective communication between public and NASA, and re-stating the problem in pretty pictures does no good. It may even do bad.

The best thing people involved in this effort could do would be to disappear for 6 months and try to come up with a solution.. or a FIRST STEP to the solution.

I don't claim to be working on this problem, so I'm certainly not part of the solution, but I'll tell you what... why don't I ask an insightful question: "What has worked in the past for NASA insofar as public engagement, positive or negative?"

Instead of trying to migrate -away- from the past we "Gen Y" folk should look there for lessons. Human nature has not changed significantly, despite frequent statement to the contrary.

The answer to my question? Here's a hint: It's characters, it's conflict, it's danger, it's DEATH, it's success AGAINST ODDS... It's STORY.

When has NASA had success in communication?

When von Braun was the public face behind the rocket, STOLEN from Germany's war machine and deployed at our greatest challenge. When they beat the "Ruskies" to the Moon after being beaten to orbit twice. When they FAILED to land on the Moon and the crew was near death. When Astronauts were womanizers, and LAUDED (if not because it, in spite of it). When Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia were TRAGICALLY destroyed. When Hubble was CANCELLED, and the populace ROSE UP to defend it. When two rovers landed on Mars.

Look, you can beat around the bush all you want. To improve communications you have to make the message exciting. Tools and conduits don't make it happen. Too often NASA clams up in the face of a story. They failed terribly in many of the above cases to capitalize on an engrossed public. NASA doesn't need PAO. They need producers, and writers, and directors. Simplistic, I know, but it's STORY they're after.

Go watch a great movie in theatre and turn around to look at everyone. They're engrossed. Only people like me are engrossed by the raw voice loop traffic during a spacewalk. Everyone is engrossed by a STORY.

What if NASA embraced their problems in making Ares work? Urgent call to the nation for low-mass ideas to reduce thrust oscillation? Throw some of the internal debate on NASA TV... the part with the yelling (don't try to tell me it's not there). Yeah you'll have to watch for any ITAR content getting through, but there's drama everywhere. NASA just has to find it. If people are made to care, they'll participate.

I dunno.. I'm probably way off base, but it's more concrete an idea than I've read from the Gen Y crowd. That's the point. Get an idea out there to be accepted or shot down.

aNON nailed the core issue that underlies all these 'engagement' discussions. Effective storytelling is the key to engaging the public regardless of their age and regardless of the media employed. If you do not create an emotional link between the public and the folks directly participating in the activities (audience characters), the public will remain uninterested.

This is the failing of many (but not all) of these Gen Y efforts...along with much implemented by NASA Public Affairs during the past four decades...

See:
www.thespacereview.com/article/802/1
>> I explain WHY.

www.thespacereview.com/article/807/1
>> I offer some seed ideas on HOW.

Cheers.

I found this presentation fascinating from the standpoint of a commercial. I think there's real promise here for NASA's PAO. From a technical or programmatic standpoint, I wouldn't let you within 100 feet of the vehicle. This is no way to run a program or design a spacecraft.

I'll go out on a pretty steady limb here and say that everyone would consider NASA's PAO a complete and utter disaster. It exists in name only and needs to be developed into something that works.

From what I have seen from the Gen Y presentations, they like to communicate. They like to feel involved. This is their niche and it's here that they should concentrate their efforts.

We need baby boomers to understand that an effective communication conduit is needed to show how the public benefits from NASA technology...show why it's important to embark on these journeys. It's a brave new world and if boomers want to continue to succeed in it, they have to have the support of the public.

We need Gen Y to understand that spacecraft don't fly safely on buzz words, feelings or ridiculously long Powerpoint presentations. And that the world doesn't owe them anything.

At the intersection of these two roads, you will find the future of NASA.

Keith,
People are naturally resistant to change and often do not see the value in it. I'm well aware of that. I specifically mentioned how my engagement team is looking at how to get buy-in from across the workforce.

My frustration is that you keep on talking about us getting nothing done, when my experience at JSC couldn't be further from that. The JSC 20 Year Vision team gave proposals that have both turned into projects that are being developed for implementation and evolved into the current engagement team effort.

Your last comment completely missed my point. I don't know why you seem to think that blog posts here would in any way deter me or my colleagues from tackling bigger problems. As I've repeatedly illustrated, we're already doing so.

Editor's note: what projects have Gen Y folks improved using all of these new tools and procedures that they are so eager to share? Where are the deliverables? All you have are ideas and proposals that no one outside of a small crowd ever sees. Naturally we're all suspicious since all we see are Powerpoint presentations - all of which are variations on the same basic theme. Do I need to file a FOIA request to see what Gen Y has been working on?

aNON,
I can assure you that the people I've worked with absolute are looking at what has worked in the past as exemplars of how we can work towards the future. I actually agree with most of what you said, and I know that there are people looking at similar ideas to what you suggested. One of the team members today was talking about creating a think tank at JSC where we can work with completely different industries (oil & gas, for example) to solve challenging problems.

I just posted to OpenNASA this week about how NASA needs an idea that can "sell itself" to the public and demonstrate its relevance in a largely unarguable fashion. Keith and I had a good discussion about powersats, as a result.

In my experience thus far, no one is trying to migrate away from the past, we're trying to build on it.

I'll be brief.

You people (lovers and haters) are getting pretty fired up over nothing! Seriously, I laughed when I compared the number of posts on this topic to the number of posts on other topics on this website that are of much greater importance to NASA.

I am an engineer within the space program and belong to the group coined as Generation Y. I am embarrassed to have to be associated with the aforementioned group; however by birth date that's my generation. A select few individuals are writing these presentations, which lack content, but the individuals have motivation and at least believe in the program. In this particular era, any support to NASA is a good thing. I'll agree with above comments - whoever did this presentation would succeed at writing preschool books, and maybe they should go out and do that. Young children should be exposed to the world of space flight, and what better way than with impressive pictures and few words.
The children of today will be the engineers of tomorrow, might as well show them early on in their lives what hard work and studying can help them attain.

To those who are bashing the entire generation y - based on a few individuals who can not write as the adult they are - it is not fair. I did not even know there was another Generation Y presentation out there, until coming across it here. Because a group is chosen to write a presentation, it does not mean they should represent the whole generation. There are many generation y engineers, such as myself, working diligently each day, learning from the more senior engineers and attempting to stay positive during difficult times within the program. I love this program and believe there should be no lines drawn between the different age groups/generations; this is our program, and in order to make it function we all need to set our differences aside and work as a whole.

Keith,
As I have repeatedly mentioned, I am a contractor and not a civil servant, so I can only speak to what I have directly experienced. I am not in a position to speak for the center, nor will I try to do so. If you want, I'd be more than happy to talk to the I&I Council and PAO and see if we can come up with a coordinated response, though. As I said before, this is bigger than "just a Next Gen thing" now.

Editor's note: the more that people know about what you are doing, the better.

ChrisG does have a point there, though. I'm surprised how spun up the harshest critics are over what was ultimately a recruiting tool - not unlike the commercials the military uses - that performed its task. This is not an all-encompassing representation of the various technical and programmatic activities that NASA's young professionals are engaged in, or their efforts to help make this agency an even better place to work.

cash,
I can't help but notice the irony in saying that you're embarrassed by your colleagues who have worked on these presentations and think they should leave to write for preschoolers, but then insisting that "we all need to set our differences aside and work as a whole."

Might I recommend that insulting the integrity and maturity of your fellow young professionals isn't the best way to accomplish that? This and previous presentations, the JSC 20 Year Vision, and the Inclusion & Innovation Engagement Teams are all activities we do above and beyond our day-to-day jobs.

I am also an engineer working on the program and I couldn't be more proud of ALL the work I do to support human space exploration.

Keith, could you explain in more detail what your concerns are? If this is all about some NASA internal kerfuffle, then so be it. But it sounds like this discussion goes beyond that, which is why it might be interesting.

I've learned from reading your site that NASA is pretty hard on morale. What's more, _every_ generation has fought to improve their working conditions. Why not get things out in the open? What, specifically, do you want from the next generation?

Hi Keith,

People are pretty passionate about this. As I said earlier, I don't quite understand why. Regardless, perhaps this provides an opportunity for an interesting exercise. Why not ask your readers to make their own version of what they think these presentations should be, and have them submit their presentations to you for publication.

I did not think they should leave to write for preschoolers - i said they should go and do it; I believe they should write for the preschoolers, there is nothing wrong with writing on the side. You missed the statement that said we need to inspire the younger generation, which will be our future engineers. I am appalled at these presentations; it is not a good reflection of the work we are capable of doing. The presentations make it seem that this generation does not want to work hard. I have heard many complaints about these presentations down the hall. My issue is with the content of the presentations, not the authors of it. I am certain they are doing some good work either as a civil servant or contractor. And ultimately, there is no irony in saying we need to set our differences aside and work as a whole. When I am within the office area, I am in work mode, and do not care with whom I am dealing. Everyone gets the same respect.

When a few people in their twenties create a set of powerpoint slides, the people on this website trash-talk an entire generation of workers. When the baby-boomer CEOs come to Washington looking for a handout, nobody says that baby-boomers are fiscally irresponsible. While I'm at it, I'll assert that Bush/Cheney are prime indicators of how well white people do their job, Louis Farrakhan speaks for every black man in America, and Paris Hilton demonstrates how far women can go in this world. Anyone not yet offended by unfair comparisons?


The greater community of young workers at NASA are hard at work, doing many of the same jobs as the older folks. I'm 29 years old and treated as a peer by people more than twice my age. And do you know where MY deliverables are? They're right next to the gen-x and boomer crowd: chairing working group meetings, developing ConOps, coding new software, analyzing trending data, and resolving spacecraft anomalies. It's not a Gen-anything project because we work together regardless of age.


Treating new people as being worthless just because they're new to the game? Come on folks, even college fraternities are giving up on hazing rituals. Can't you do the same?