General Groves is assigned the task of creating a nuclear bomb and he decides that Robert Oppenheimer is the man who can bring the scientific community together to perform this task with a 19 month deadline. While nothing is outstanding here it was highly entertaining and educational. If you know your WWII history there are plenty of political decision making sound bites to stimulate you.
Recommended!
Fat man and Little Boy - HDnet Movies (1989)
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Richard
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donshan
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Re: Fat man and Little Boy - HDnet Movies (1989)
I live near ( and worked at) the Hanford Atomic Project that made the plutonium that went into "Fat Man".Richard wrote:General Groves is assigned the task of creating a nuclear bomb and he decides that Robert Oppenheimer is the man who can bring the scientific community together to perform this task with a 19 month deadline. !
I have always been amazed at how this huge project went from an untried idea to a massive industrial complex to success in JUST 19 months!. Take any complex idea in private industry, defense project , or any government program today and try to do it in 19 months!.
The answer in this case was General Groves management style- he delegated decisions to the best people. Groves told the scientific/engineering people that ONLY they could do this job ( if it was even possible!), and he would block all the politicians, managers, and accountants from micromanaging the project. He gave the experts the freedom to try multiple solutions at the beginning, pick the best and then move to the next stage and try multiple solutions again and pick the best. Every design choice had a "plan B (or even more)" initially started. Of course it helped motivate everyone that we might lose the war if Hitler got there first!
Today, in any project it seems everyone in charge wants "the perfect" design and construction to be picked and specified BEFORE even starting, thinking it is wasteful to do otherwise. What we find is many programs and projects that have to be done over again from the beginning, or go way past completion dates for "change order' work that must correct mistakes.
There is a management lesson in this docu-drama, that even applies to home theater building. Get good experts on the job, but then let them do it!