Constancy of Purpose

Jon Westphal, an engineer with the U.S. Air Force, differentiates between roles and describes his role as an “enabler”:

“The government is not in the manufacturing business; the contractor is. Judy Stokley and George Sudan were adamant about this. ‘Let them do their job. We’ll work with them to provide insight—not direction, not oversight.’

“The best way to do that was to be on site, working side-by-side and supporting open communication between the contractor and the government. That was the role of an ‘enabler,’ and that was what I did.”

The enablers had to have a broad background because they were not experts in any one field per se, but rather dealt with everyone—contracts people, finance staff, business reps, program managers, and engineers. They knew enough across the board to communicate with people and get them in touch with whoever was needed to help solve their problems. Probably more important than anything else, the contractors had to feel comfortable that the enablers understood what they were talking about.