Instruments Division Re-organization
We are planning to restructure the Division as described to you during a summer all-hands meeting. Right now, we are recruiting Branch Heads for the new Imaging and Spectroscopy Branches. Links to these position descriptions are below. These positions are planned to be filled by the end of November, following an internal interview process. These are important management positions, which will become responsible for encouraging the development of the career growth of all staff within the domain branch. Who would you like to have in these positions? Feel free to apply or make recommendations to me.
I have also included a presentation about the re-organization that I made recently to the DMM. If you look through those charts you will find one which shows the likely composition of the Imaging and Spectroscopy Branches. For many of you it will be obvious where you belong, for others it may be less clear. I will meet with any of you who would like to discuss this. Just drop me an email and we can set up a time. We could meet individually or as small groups.
As we transition to the new structure, I do NOT expect any immediate change in the instrument team functions and staffing. So, if you work for NICMOS today, you will still work on NICMOS after the change. However, you will have a new manager responsible for your G/Os with input from the NICMOS team lead. Over time, I could imagine the work of the teams changing but this will evolve slowly. For example, we might want to continue to produce enhanced data products for the archive, such as Multidrizzle, or we might want to revise our use support functions (in the light of fewer operating instruments), or we might want to develop a more general understanding of CTE for all of HST’s CCDs. Tasks like these are more easily done outside of any particular instrument team environment.
Please understand this is not a bashing of the team structure that has worked well for us in the past, and will continue after the re-organization. It is inconceivable to me that we could approach the development of WFC3, as an example, without developing a coherent team with an experienced leader and keep this team together for several years. (I helped in the early 1980s to develop the original team structure, and have worked with it ever since, so I do understand its value.)
Change is stressful, but if we do it right I think it will be invigorating for us all. Personally, I am very excited and involved in making the new structure work, and I look for your help, support and advice.