Show Notes: 

• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (05:15) 
• Mentors (07:20) 
• Building and leading teams (13:15) 
• Comfort with uncertainty (15:30) 
• Waleed Abdalati Origins episode (18:30) 
• What drew Nash to JPL (19:00) 
• Trajectories to JPL (20:00) 
• Why you need to read sociology books (22:00) 
• Being a Renaissance Person - curiosity across human endeavors (22:40) 
• T-shaped people (23:00) 
• Challenging yourself (29:45) 
• The change in mentality that comes with public service (32:50) 
• NASA JPL Team X (35:15) 
  • What is Team X?
• van Allen, von Braun, and Pickering famous picture (38:00) 
• What networked computers did for JPL (40:30) 
• Alfred’s contribution to Team X efficiency - paper (42:15) 
• Three types of fun (44:10) 
• Thinking about how you provide information (46:15) 
  • Related: see discussion of human-centered design in Rachel Young Origins episode  
• "Murphy was an optimist” (48:00) 
• Melanie Mitchell Origins episode (56:10) 
• Writing (56:45) 
  • Helping Writers Become Authors podcast
  • Children of Tendu podcast and parallels to proposal writing 
  • Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way  
  • Why you need to learn about design 
  • “All endeavors of humanity are communicative endeavors" 
  • “Vision without action is a daydream, action without vision is a nightmare" 
• “You can never be too clear” (01:05:30) 
• Thinking in questions (01:06:00) 
  • “The people who really make it in life are not those who get the right answer, but the ones that ask the right question”  
  • Right question is the quantum leap to the right answer 
• Lightning round (01:08:00): 
  • Book: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 
  • Passion: Gift of gab  
  • Heart sing: Broadest possible definition of product development (The Invincible Company book)  
  • Screwed up: Leading people during Planck Mission project 
• Find guest online: 
  • Twitter @aeniii
  • NASA JPL  
• 'Five-Cut Fridays’ five-song music playlist series   
  • Alfred’s playlist