Member-only story
Space Engineering Proves Agile Right — and why planning backfires
By contrasting engineering philosophies for problem-solving, Boeing and SpaceX show entirely different results that we can learn from a software perspective.
In 2014, a race began to restore the capability to send astronauts to space from the US. Today, 10 years later, two astronauts are stranded for months in the International Space Station waiting to be rescued. While Boeing had a meticulously detailed plan, they found trouble along the way. Meanwhile, SpaceX took each failure as a learning opportunity, iterating and adapting their approach with every test. These weren’t just different approaches to space engineering — they were opposing philosophies that would determine the fate of humanity’s return to space.
What happened with the Boeing Starliner?
At this point, we know that Boeing hasn’t achieved 100% success in any mission, and that after launching astronauts into space, they had to stay at the International Space Station waiting for SpaceX to rescue them. And it’s not like this information surprises us, as Boeing has fallen from grace lately.
However, for many years Boeing has been a successful company, capable of…
