今天公司里的一个项目上的争论让我又想起了Roger Boisjoly。那是半年前了,看到的那篇关于他的文章。
Roger Boisjoly was an engineer at solid rocket booster manufacturer Morton Thiokol and had begun warning as early as 1985 that the joints in the boosters could fail in cold weather, leading to a catastrophic failure of the casing. Then on the eve of the Jan. 28, 1986, launch, Boisjoly and four other space shuttle engineers argued late into the night against the launch.
Boisjoly could not watch the launch, so certain was he that the shuttle would blow up. In the months and years that followed, the disaster changed his career and permanently poisoned his view that NASA could be trusted to make the right decisions when matters came to life and death.
Boisjoly was not the only engineer who attempted to stop the launch and suffered for blowing the whistle. Allan J. McDonald was Thiokol's program manager for the solid rocket booster and became the most important critic of the accident afterward. When he was pressed by NASA the night before the liftoff to sign a written recommendation approving the launch, he refused, and later argued late into the night for a launch cancellation. When McDonald later disclosed the secret debate to accident investigators, he was isolated and his career destroyed.
当时看了以后就想,如果我是Roger Boisjoly,如果我在他当时的那个位置上,我会怎么做。我会像他一样去做么。如果我知道那样做的结果,我仍然会像他那样去做么。其实我们每个人都应该问一下自己的内心,如果我们在他当时的那个位置上,我们会怎么做。如果我们知道那样做的结果,我们仍然会像他那样去做么。并非道德审判,只是我们需要知道我们自己内心是怎样的一个人。
悲观一点的看,处在Roger Boisjoly当时位置,无论怎么做都是错。报告问题是错,不报告问题也是错。报告问题,你就是花剌子模的信使。 不报告问题,等出了问题,你就是背黑锅的人。横竖都是输,看不到赢的出路。或许出路就是当初不要做这份工作。
扁鹊兄弟三人行医,扁鹊自己都承认“长兄最善,中兄次之,扁鹊最为下”,但“长兄於病视神,未有形而除之,故名不出於家。中兄治病,其在毫毛,故名不出於闾。若扁鹊者,鑱血脉,投毒药,副肌肤,闲而名出闻於诸侯”。所以这就是人类的天性使然,自古以来如此。