We are a pale shadow of ourselves these days, now having to go back to Apollo technology because we dont have the means to do a new shuttle system or the wisdom to know that manned spaceflight beyond orbit is probably a big waste of money.

I also think that understanding the business of spaceflight is a good thing because it involves smart people doing difficult things with high stakes. Even so, mistakes happen (like putting orbiter down the stack rather that at the top, costing two missions so far) and things change (rocket engines are far cheaper now, so an orbiter itself could be far lighter and cheaper if designed today) just like they do for everyone in business.

As far as assessment goes, one word: simulation. Apollo could not have worked without extensive simulations of everything from the vehicles and their dynamics to underwater practice with wrenches and shovels.

To compare our very first manned mission to land on the moon to employee assessment technology borders on comic absurdity. I understand the reference to the evolution of computers and science, but comparing employee assessments to landing on the moon?

I’m an Executive Recruiter, but I’m not comparing making a successful hire to a lunar mission. I do admit feeling like Neil Armstrong sometimes, though :) (”That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”)

Ultimately, you can’t teach machines human intuition. Sure, you can program in logic and teach a machine to learn . . . but you can’t replace the human component.

At the end of the day, employee assessments are nothing more than a small piece of the deliberation process. Why? Because it’s the hiring authority that holds ultimate responsibility for the performance of the hire, and that’s how it should be. Show me someone who blames a bad hire on an employee assessment (”The machine told me to do it”), and I’ll show you someone who is on their way out the door.

Let’s come back to Earth – it’s more fun down here :)