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Crash programs fail because they are based on theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby in a month.
Wernher Von Braun
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes that complex problems cannot be solved simply by increasing resources or manpower.

Wernher Von Braun's quote critiques the misconception that adding more people or resources to a complex task will accelerate its completion, much like the idea that nine pregnant women can produce a baby in a month. Instead, it highlights the importance of understanding the nature of tasks and the realities of project management, where certain processes cannot be expedited by simply multiplying efforts.

Themes

Project ManagementEfficiencyComplexityResourcesTheory

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a business meeting to emphasize the importance of planning over haste.

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I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.
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Development of the space station is as inevitable as the rising of the sun; man has already poked his nose into space and he is not likely to pull it back . . . . There can be no thought of finishing, for aiming at the stars-both literally and figuratively-is the work of generations, and no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning.
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