Management Magazine - Rickover on Management

MANAGEMENT - A Magazine for Government Managers Vol. No. 1. Sept 1979

This is a magazine published by OPM for Government managers.

In this article, Rickover provides a concise list of his management principles with a brief discussion on each. These are (with an even briefer summary):

1. Ownership - feel you own it and that you will own it indefinitely

2. Responsibility - accept full responsibility for all work under your cognizance

3. Attention to Detail - when details are ignored, projects fail

4. Priorities - have self-discipline to focus on where it is needed most

5. Hard Work - have simple direct means of knowing what is going on

6. Checking Up - Ensure what is happening is what you expected

7. Formality - Individual memory gets lost quickly - so put in writing

8. Face the Facts - Resist the human temptation to hope things will work out