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Sunday, February 15, 2015
Sandia funding reduced, Los Alamos funding increased
The article references the presidential budget request to congress, which has no hope whatsoever of being approved. The likely outcome this year will again be close to the past several years, when no budget is in place at the start of the year. Eventually, some overall funding bill is passed later in the year that enacts across the board cuts to all programs. Just another year of reductions and not much else.
The budget proposal submitted by the White House to Congress is never even remotely related to what actually gets funded, and at what level. Therefore, no conclusions or insight can be gained from what it proposes.
Sandia is only an engineering lab that most nut and bolt defense contractors can substitute roles. Not like they are a physics lab or anything really important.
Sandia is only an engineering lab that most nut and bolt defense contractors can substitute roles. Not like they are a physics lab or anything really important.
February 16, 2015 at 7:50 PM"
What!?? We can replace every physicist at the labs 10 times over at cheaper costs. We have to fight with the real world market place for good and loyal engineers. A Ph.d in physics is like a Ph.d in Philosophy...besides universities no one cares about them or wants them. It is even worse for physicists, as we have virtually unlimited supply of them from China and Russia. If they want to come to LANL or LLNL they need to play by the rules and STFU. On the other hand a good engineer at Sandia who is treated badly can get a great job in a variety of of industries across the land. It is the people at Sandia who are special and should be treated as such. As for scientists...they are to be kicked to the dirt and if they complain than they can be and should replaced in the blink of an eye. If they are so great than they will get a job at Harvard, if not than the need to submit, suffer and pay the piper.
Your usage of "Ph.d" marks you as a long-time disparager of higher degrees in science. We know who you are, and we know your prejudices. You can keep your opinions, we already know they are worth nothing.
My name is Kevin Moore and I recently left the Lab after 10.5 years. My new job has shown me just how dysfunctional LLNL is, and revealed the lab's greatest problem: it's inability to fire those who should be. Repeatedly, I watched failed scientists/engineers not be terminated, but"coaxed" into management. These folks, typically with no managementexperience beyond some two-day LLNL coarse, made horrible managers. Theymoved their way through middle management, arriving to a place where theywere seen as a person who guides science/engineering at the lab. We then had a failed science/engineering with poor management skills trying to build programs and direct the lab. The result is what we have today: a rudderless monolith with ghastly overhead.LLNL was a truly sad place to be, and the day I got out was one of the most happy periods I had in years. If I can suggest anything to our government, come into the weapons labs with a team of competent strategists and start slashing useless managers and failed scientist. Use metrics like peer-reviewed publications to gauge a persons quality, not spot awards or other worthless internalrecognitions. Kevin Moore Manager, Materials & Corrosion Engineering Exponent Failure Analysis Associates 149 Commonwealth Drive Menlo Park, Ca 94025
Are you implying that maybe just maybe we have poor management at the labs? I always thought the problems at the labs was driven by the cowboy culture of the workers. This culture is something that are wonderful, dedicated, hard working, and, brave managers have to deal with. It has to be someones fault so I say blame it on the workforce.
Non-PhDs... at an engineering lab like Sandia.. who cares. Professional engineers who don't have PhDs are more than sufficient for doing engineering work. Sandia is just a groupthink bottomfeeder of the nuclear weapons complex anyways. They want to be important in more ways than just modeling the reliability of nuts and bolts over and over and over again. Doesn't require a PhD or even a half a brain, to do it.
where is the chili cook-off guy? we need to hear about the sandia chili cook-off, whenever Sandia is mentioned in a thread. Doesn't feel the same without it.
Are you implying that maybe just maybe we have poor management at the labs? I always thought the problems at the labs was driven by the cowboy culture of the workers. This culture is something that are wonderful, dedicated, hard working, and, brave managers have to deal with. It has to be someones fault so I say blame it on the workforce.
February 18, 2015 at 6:44 AM
Take a look a the turnover in each category and a pretty clear picture emerges. The leadership at LANL has (mostly) turned over twice in the past dozen years; however, the news stories today look a lot like they did then. The workers, for the most part, have had a much lower turnover during that same period. If it is the fault of management, then there are three eras of them that failed.
"Take a look a the turnover in each category and a pretty clear picture emerges. The leadership at LANL has (mostly) turned over twice in the past dozen years; however, the news stories today look a lot like they did then. The workers, for the most part, have had a much lower turnover during that same period. If it is the fault of management, then there are three eras of them that failed.
February 18, 2015 at 7:35 PM"
I would say exactly the opposite. It seems the the workforce has had the most turnover. The mangers that where around was around 15 years ago is still there and most have moved up. It seems like it is the workers who move on. I would love if somebody could quantitatively confirm this but I would guess the turnover rate is much higher for non-management. My point is that one thing that has been constant for the last 15 years is that you have exactly the same mangers. Every time there is a problem the they blame the workers. Maybe what you mean the lab Director has changed however that is only a single person. Also I would add that every time a new Director is selected the lab management has a significant role in the selection processes. Who do you think they are going to push for? Finley I would add that word "culture" gets thrown around all the time. Maybe it is a poor management culture that is the problem, so maybe there has been three eras of management but they all had the same culture. In any case it is an interesting point to investigate.
It seems like we need Rich Marquez to ride a pony down Pajarito Road again in his new cowboy uniform to improve morale at LANS. Where's Marquez when you need him him. Anybody?
"On the other hand a good engineer at Sandia who is treated badly can get a great job in a variety of industries across the land."
... maybe laying down pipe for the Keystone. Better than road construction. Not as much fun as building bridges and torqueing rusted bolts past yield...
Like showing the same finite element mesh of the same nut or screw over and over again, year after year to your customer is any better than laying pipe and doing real work.
Adam Rowen is no longer the manager of the materials chemistry department at Sandia! You should hear what many of the former staff members in his former department have to say about him.
24 comments:
The article references the presidential budget request to congress, which has no hope whatsoever of being approved. The likely outcome this year will again be close to the past several years, when no budget is in place at the start of the year. Eventually, some overall funding bill is passed later in the year that enacts across the board cuts to all programs. Just another year of reductions and not much else.
It seems that funding is tied to performance at the Labs and DOE/NNSA certainly recognizes good performance. "Screw-up move-up (i.e. funding)"!
The budget proposal submitted by the White House to Congress is never even remotely related to what actually gets funded, and at what level. Therefore, no conclusions or insight can be gained from what it proposes.
Sandia is only an engineering lab that most nut and bolt defense contractors can substitute roles. Not like they are a physics lab or anything really important.
Sandia is only an engineering lab that most nut and bolt defense contractors can substitute roles. Not like they are a physics lab or anything really important.
February 16, 2015 at 7:50 PM"
What!?? We can replace every physicist at the labs 10 times over at cheaper costs. We have to fight with the real world market place for good and loyal engineers. A Ph.d in physics is like a Ph.d in Philosophy...besides universities no one cares about them or wants them. It is even worse for physicists, as we have virtually unlimited supply of them from China and Russia. If they want to come to LANL or LLNL they need to play by the rules and STFU. On the other hand a good engineer at Sandia who is treated badly can get a great job in a variety of of industries across the land. It is the people at Sandia who are special and should be treated as such. As for scientists...they are to be kicked to the dirt and if they complain than they can be and should replaced in the blink of an eye. If they are so great than they will get a job at Harvard, if not than the need to submit, suffer and pay the piper.
Your usage of "Ph.d" marks you as a long-time disparager of higher degrees in science. We know who you are, and we know your prejudices. You can keep your opinions, we already know they are worth nothing.
Three Vice Presidents of technical divisions at Sandia National Laboratories do not have a Ph.D.: Hruby, Walker, Vahle.
Adam Rowen a manager at Sandia Livermore does not have a Ph.D. either.
The previous 3 individuals are the first ever Vice Presidents without a Ph.D. in Science or Engineering to lead technical divisions at Sandia.
A quick search on the internet shows that Adam Rowen went to a school in New Mexico.
I'll bet you do that post from memory -- not cut and paste!
Booorinnngg!
Recall what Kevin Moore said about managers at the national labs in general:
http://llnlthetruestory.blogspot.com/2013/08/dysfunctional-llnl.html
My name is Kevin Moore and I recently left the Lab after 10.5 years. My new job has shown me just how dysfunctional LLNL is, and revealed the lab's greatest problem: it's inability to fire those who should be.
Repeatedly, I watched failed scientists/engineers not be terminated, but"coaxed" into management. These folks, typically with no managementexperience beyond some two-day LLNL coarse, made horrible managers. Theymoved their way through middle management, arriving to a place where theywere seen as a person who guides science/engineering at the lab. We then had a failed science/engineering with poor management skills trying to
build programs and direct the lab. The result is what we have today: a rudderless monolith with ghastly overhead.LLNL was a truly sad place to be, and the day I got out was one of the most happy periods I had in years.
If I can suggest anything to our government, come into the weapons labs with a team of competent strategists and start slashing useless managers and failed scientist. Use metrics like peer-reviewed publications to gauge a persons quality, not spot awards or other worthless internalrecognitions.
Kevin Moore
Manager, Materials & Corrosion Engineering
Exponent Failure Analysis Associates
149 Commonwealth Drive
Menlo Park, Ca 94025
Are you implying that maybe just maybe we have poor management at the labs? I always thought the problems at the labs was driven by the cowboy culture of the workers. This culture is something that are wonderful, dedicated, hard working, and, brave managers have to deal with. It has to be someones fault so I say blame it on the workforce.
Non-PhDs... at an engineering lab like Sandia.. who cares. Professional engineers who don't have PhDs are more than sufficient for doing engineering work. Sandia is just a groupthink bottomfeeder of the nuclear weapons complex anyways. They want to be important in more ways than just modeling the reliability of nuts and bolts over and over and over again. Doesn't require a PhD or even a half a brain, to do it.
where is the chili cook-off guy? we need to hear about the sandia chili cook-off, whenever Sandia is mentioned in a thread. Doesn't feel the same without it.
6:44, your sarcasm is spot on. If the management sucks, fire more workers.
Are you implying that maybe just maybe we have poor management at the labs? I always thought the problems at the labs was driven by the cowboy culture of the workers. This culture is something that are wonderful, dedicated, hard working, and, brave managers have to deal with. It has to be someones fault so I say blame it on the workforce.
February 18, 2015 at 6:44 AM
Take a look a the turnover in each category and a pretty clear picture emerges. The leadership at LANL has (mostly) turned over twice in the past dozen years; however, the news stories today look a lot like they did then. The workers, for the most part, have had a much lower turnover during that same period. If it is the fault of management, then there are three eras of them that failed.
"Take a look a the turnover in each category and a pretty clear picture emerges. The leadership at LANL has (mostly) turned over twice in the past dozen years; however, the news stories today look a lot like they did then. The workers, for the most part, have had a much lower turnover during that same period. If it is the fault of management, then there are three eras of them that failed.
February 18, 2015 at 7:35 PM"
I would say exactly the opposite. It seems the the workforce has had the most turnover. The mangers that where around was around 15 years ago is still there and most have moved up. It seems like it is the workers who move on. I would love if somebody could quantitatively confirm this but I would guess the turnover rate is much higher for non-management. My point is that one thing that has been constant for the last 15 years is that you have exactly the same mangers. Every time there is a problem the they blame the workers. Maybe what you mean the lab Director has changed however that is only a single person. Also I would add that every time a new Director is selected the lab management has a significant role in the selection processes. Who do you think they are going to push for? Finley I would add that word "culture" gets thrown around all the time. Maybe it is a poor management culture that is the problem, so maybe there has been three eras of management but they all had the same culture. In any case it is an interesting point to investigate.
It seems like we need Rich Marquez to ride a pony down Pajarito Road again in his new cowboy uniform to improve morale at LANS. Where's Marquez when you need him him. Anybody?
As long as Rich carries the fake, plastic torch, I am happy.
"On the other hand a good engineer at Sandia who is treated badly can get a great job in a variety of industries across the land."
... maybe laying down pipe for the Keystone. Better than road construction. Not as much fun as building bridges and torqueing rusted bolts past yield...
No Sandia manager would last a week laying pipe
And laying pipe is a worthwhile goal for a career for an engineer? HaHaHa!
Like showing the same finite element mesh of the same nut or screw over and over again, year after year to your customer is any better than laying pipe and doing real work.
Both are scut work for any self-respecting engineer.
Adam Rowen is no longer the manager of the materials chemistry department at Sandia! You should hear what many of the former staff members in his former department have to say about him.
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