How often have you seen a quick fix or temporary solution turn into a long-term problem? I've seen a few throughout my career and they often turn out for the worst. While the issue isn't specific to Air Traffic Management (ATM), the industry's extremely long project lifecycles can certainly make it worse. After all, NOTAMS are still in all caps because of limitations presented by telecommunication systems used from the 1920s to the 1960s.
I've been in the position of having to choose between options before. Every now and then, a seemingly easy and cheap solution becomes available, claiming to solve the problem immediately. Deep down, you know that this low-cost, quick option won't be the right choice for the long term. But, operational pressure is high. You'll label the solution as 'temporary'. And you promise it will be updated, replaced or improved at a later date. But let us be honest, this 'later date' rarely comes, due to other pressures, a lack of resources, and new stressors that might arise.
Ultimately, the solution that claimed to be easy and cheap leads to more complexity, and problems in the longer term, and even becomes harder to maintain or replace. So, how then, can we avoid choosing the quick-fix in the first instance?
Engineers need to refrain from people-pleasing. And, operational people should not push too hard for an immediate perfect solution. But after all, both sides are humans and those biases are natural. In fact, they are even desired in engineering culture ,as well as in the selection processes for air traffic controllers.
So, this is where culture and management should play their role. Everyone working at an ANSP should develop sufficient self-knowledge but also knowledge of others to avoid such pitfalls and protect the organisation against bad, short-term decisions.
If this sounds familiar to you and you'd like to discuss more, just reply to this email and we can talk!