Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/960726
46 I-CONNECT007 I SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE 2018 the committees have a common goal—to cre- ate documents that the industry can use. Plus, we always need more participants to broaden the IPC's body of technical knowledge. Goldman: Are you the main go-to person there at NASA for anything IPC-related? Cooke: For JSC and the Agency, I'm one of the folks that they call. However, there are four or five other Subject Matter Experts within the IPC committees that work for NASA, or are some- how aligned with the Agency or commercial spaceflight activities. Plus, we have SMEs from aerospace and military contractors who can help answer IPC-related questions. We often talk among ourselves, and it's not uncom- mon to get an e-mail from IPC staff or some- one within our group in response to a ques- tion from a document user or training, such as "Why is this requirement written the way it is and what does it really mean?" I'm one of the technical historical knowledge sources that helps both NASA and IPC, so I can (usually) tell you the technical intent behind the word- ing which isn't always obvious. Sometimes I can give you the folk lore behind the "Thou shall never do this—ever" type requirements. Sometimes (rarely) I can't answer the ques- tion, due to security restrictions. Goldman: Do you see your IPC involvement changing with this award? Cooke: I hope not. I will be working with IPC until my NASA customer says they don't want me to do it. However, my NASA customers at Johnson like what I'm doing. They value what I and the other NASA SMEs are bringing back to the Agency, getting critical requirements into the documents so that the Agency can use the IPC documents for flight applications. It's frustrating at times, but my frustration with my involvement with IPC is that there isn't enough of me. If I could build three of me, and I sus- pect having three or more Bobs attending the meetings probably terrifies some folks within NASA and IPC [laughing], I still wouldn't be able to get to all the meetings and presenta- tions that I want to attend during the confer- ence. However, for the moment the world is safe—only one Bob. Another one of my frustrations is that at every meeting we have the same complaint: "The meetings and committees are populated primarily by Class 3 manufacturers or cus- tomers." It's true. The high reliability, space, and military sectors are sending people to the meetings, and the Class 1 and Class 2 sectors rarely attend or even comment. As a result, we don't have much technical input from those sectors, and the lack of input is an ongoing conflict (and concern) within the committees. That makes it extremely challenging to ensure we address the needs of the active commit- tee participants, while also trying to make the document useful to a wider community. We are starting to see more participation from the automotive and medical communities, and I'm hopeful we can get more participation from other market sectors as well in order to create better documents. Goldman: It can be a long week of meetings. Cooke: It's a very busy week, and I average over 60–70 hours plus travel. Some of my meetings during the week start with prepara- tion at 7 a.m., finish somewhere around 7 or 8 p.m., and I may not shut the laptop down until midnight. I'm not sure I'd make it through the week if it weren't for the excellent coffee that IPC provides during the meetings. I live on that stuff (please don't tell my cardiologist). By the time I get home, I don't remember my name, much less know what day it is. I keep remind- ing IPC staff when they say, "Bob, we want you to do this action item" to send me an e-mail reminding me what we agreed to—and when we agreed it would be completed. They usually forget, because their brains are fried too. Goldman: Bob, it's been really good talking with you! Congratulations again on achieving one of IPC's highest awards for volunteers. Cooke: Well, if you've got any questions on IPC stuff, just let me know! Thanks, Patty. S&T