• Question: Have you ever felt very courageous and outgoing about a project ;-)

    Asked by Louise Farragher to Catherine, John G, Laura, Ray on 19 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: John Ging

      John Ging answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      Daily. If you don’t have faith in your own work, no one else will.
      Its rare that I’m not bold about a particular project – which is weird because I used to be shy and just wanted to figure things out for myself.
      Then I realised fortune favours the bold!

    • Photo: Laura Tobin

      Laura Tobin answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      Hi Louise! No. I get extremely worried & plagued with a lot of self doubt. I get very paranoid that something will break. Usually it’s grand and I’m just a worrier and if something doesn’t work, I know the project so well, that it’s an easy fix. I really wish I was courageous and outgoing, but I can’t help but worry. When the project does go ahead, I do have full confidence in yet as I wouldn’t let it out of the lab if I wasn’t a 100% sure.

    • Photo: Ray Alcorn

      Ray Alcorn answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      All the time.. and to trust your own work. Some of the things I have done in the past, had I got them wrong could literally have killed me, for example the braking algorithm for a 5 tonne 1000RPM turbomachine, or its failsafe shutdown. BUT the best story is from my friend at Sikorsky helicopters. When the engineers change somethign on a prototype helicopter they MUST flight check it with a test pilot… ie. they have to go with the test pilot… so you want to be sure its right!

    • Photo: Catherine Conaghan

      Catherine Conaghan answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      I would typically be very positive about any project I’m involved with – otherwise I wouldn’t be too keen to get involved in it, or I would very quickly let people know my concerns or that we need to change what we expect the final outcome of the project to be. If you are worried about a project, it’s better to address the issues head on and find a solution or re-adjust what the outcome will be.

      No project will ever ever ever go completely according to plan. I repeat…ever! 🙂 So you have to be able to react along the way – it’s all part of learning and improving though for the next project.

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