Podcast appearances and mentions of diane vaughan

Thanks to our Partners, Pico Technology, Autel, and Independent Wrench JobsWatch Full Video EpisodeMatt Fanslow revisits the Challenger disaster, not just as a historical tragedy, but as a case study in how standards, tolerances, and risk perception can shift over time. The common simplified story is that management ignored engineers, pushed the launch forward, and disaster followed. While that is part of the story, Matt looks at the deeper concept sociologist Diane Vaughan identified: normalization of deviance.The Challenger disaster happened 73 seconds after launch in 1986, killing all seven astronauts onboard. The failure was traced to O-rings in the solid rocket boosters that lost sealing ability in unusually cold conditions. But the broader lesson is not simply that one part failed. It is that warning signs had appeared before, yet each successful mission expanded the boundary of what NASA considered acceptable. What would have once been treated as outside tolerance gradually became normal.Matt connects this idea to the phrase, “slowly, then all at once,” often used to describe the collapse of relationships, marriages, systems, and businesses. The visible failure may seem sudden, but the conditions that made it possible usually developed over a long period of tolerated drift.From there, the discussion moves into automotive repair. Shops can experience the same pattern with ADAS calibrations, wheel torque procedures, tire repairs, safety glasses, uniforms, training expectations, and other operating standards. A procedure gets missed once. Nothing bad happens. It gets missed again. Still nothing bad happens. Eventually, the shop no longer treats the original standard as the standard at all. The absence of immediate consequences becomes false evidence that the deviation is safe.Matt uses ADAS calibration as a major example. A shop may begin by following OEM procedures after alignments or repairs, but over time, scheduling problems, delays, cost pressure, or customer pushback can lead to skipped calibrations. If no warning lights appear and no customer complains, the skipped step starts to feel acceptable. But that does not mean the risk disappeared. It may simply mean the failure has not happened yet.The episode also references tire repair liability and the John Eagle collision repair case as examples of what can happen when accepted industry habits conflict with OEM procedure. The lesson is not that every shop owner or technical specialist who drifts from procedure is malicious. The more uncomfortable lesson is that drift is natural. That is exactly why it has to be recognized and managed.Matt closes by encouraging listeners to look around their own shops and ask where tolerance has expanded without conscious approval. Are torque procedures still being followed? Are retorques still being performed? Are safety practices still enforced? Is training still treated as essential? Are customer-facing and liability-related procedures being maintained, or have they quietly become optional?Key ThemesNormalization of deviance: The gradual process where unacceptable practices become accepted because nothing bad happens immediately.Challenger as a system failure: The O-ring failed physically, but the larger failure involved shifting standards, repeated warning signs, and expanded tolerance.“Slowly, then all at once” Major failures often appear sudden, but the underlying drift usually develops over time.Automotive examples: ADAS calibrations, tire repairs, torque sticks, wheel retorques, safety glasses, uniforms, training, and shop SOPs can all become vulnerable to tolerance drift.OEM procedures and liability: The episode reinforces the importance of following documented procedures, especially where safety, liability, and driver-assistance systems are involved.Not always malicious: Deviance can become normalized without anyone consciously deciding to take a major risk.Memorable Ideas“What would have failed in 1981 passes in 1986.”“The tolerance for acceptability expanded.”“It happened slowly and then all at once.”“It's not a problem until it is, and then it's a big problem.”“The absence of consequences is not the same thing as proof of safety.”Listener TakeawayEvery shop has standards that were created for a reason. Some protect quality. Some protect the customer. Some protect the business. Some protect people's lives. The danger is that those standards can erode so gradually that no one notices until the failure is already public, expensive, or irreversible.Thanks to our Partner, Pico TechnologyAre you chasing elusive automotive problems? Pico Technology empowers you to see what's really happening. Their PicoScope oscilloscopes transform your diagnostic capabilities. Visit PicoAuto.comThanks to our Partner, AutelFrom drivability diagnostics and TPMS service to ADAS and advanced safety systems, Autel helps technicians follow OEM procedures and repair with confidence. Learn more at Autel.comThanks to our Partner, Independent Wrench JobsIndependent Wrench Jobs is a new, tech-only community to help you find better independent shops—fair dispatch, steady work, real leadership. No games.Built by Technician Find—serving the industry since 2017. Join free at IndependentWrenchJobs.comContact InformationEmail Matt: mattfanslowpodcast@gmail.comDiagnosing the Aftermarket A - Z YouTube ChannelThe Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: Advancing the Aftermarket by Facilitating Wisdom Through Story Telling and Open Discussion. https://remarkableresults.biz/Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: Understand the Numbers of Your Business with CPA Hunt Demarest. https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: Marketing Experts Brian & Kim Walker Work with Shop Owners to Take it to the Next Level. https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: Weekly Inspiration with Business Coach Chris Cotton from AutoFix - Auto Shop Coaching. https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: Develop Interpersonal and Professional Communication Skills when Speaking to Audiences of Any Size. https://craigoneill.captivate.fm/

Logan County, OK - Diane Vaughan, current Logan County Special Judge and longtime public servant, today announced her candidacy for Logan County Associate District Judge, pledging to continue her steadfast commitment to the rule of law, fairness, upholding the Constitution, and service to the people of Logan County."My experience as a former prosecutor and Air Force JAG Officer have taught me to place service to our community over self. I am seeking election to continue serving you and ensure our courts are a place where the law is applied fairly, faithfully, and without bias."Judge Vaughan brings many years of legal and public service experience to the bench. She is a retired veteran of the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG), where she served her country with distinction for nearly 21 years, she owned a private law practice in Guthrie, and also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Logan County, representing the interests of justice and advocating for public safety in the Logan County community.Judge Vaughan is a committed legal textualist who believes in applying the laws of Oklahoma as they are written. She is dedicated to upholding the Constitution, applying statutes faithfully, and ensuring that personal views never replace the law itself. Her judicial philosophy centers on fairness, equity, and ensuring meaningful access to the courts for all citizens."County government and public service are deeply important to me," she said. "The judiciary plays a vital role in maintaining public trust. Every person who enters the courtroom deserves to be heard, treated with respect, and assured that the law guides the outcome."Judge Vaughan and her family have been proud members of the Logan County community since 2007.Her husband is a teacher at Guthrie Junior High School, and together they have raised their two children in Logan County. Their family's deep roots in the community reinforce her dedication to service and to preserving the integrity of the local justice system.Throughout her career, Judge Vaughan has demonstrated integrity, professionalism, and a tireless commitment to justice. She looks forward to continuing her work on behalf of the citizens of Logan County.*Follow Guthrie America*Instagram: @GuthrieAmericaFacebook: Guthrie AmericaTwitter: @GuthrieAmerica━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━*Follow Heady Coleman*Instagram: @Heady.ColemanFacebook: Heady ColemanTwitter: @HeadyColemanLinkedIn: Heady Coleman━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━*Free Resources*

Why do smart teams still deliver failed projects? Most project failures don't begin with a catastrophic mistake. Instead, they begin with small deviations—minor compromises that seem harmless in the moment. A warning sign gets ignored. A shortcut becomes acceptable. A risk is acknowledged but tolerated because "nothing bad happened last time." Over time, those deviations quietly become the new normal. In this episode of Project Management Happy Hour, Kim Essendrup and Kate Anderson sit down with Dr. Bill Brantley to explore one of the most dangerous patterns in project leadership: normalization of deviance. The concept comes from sociologist Diane Vaughan's analysis of the Challenger space shuttle disaster. Engineers had long observed problems with the shuttle's O-ring seals. But earlier launches survived those anomalies. Each successful launch reinforced the belief that the risk was acceptable. Gradually, what began as an abnormal warning became accepted behavior. As Dr. Brantley explains: "We survived that near miss. It's okay. Next time we'll be okay." Project teams fall into this pattern all the time. A design review is skipped because the team is behind schedule. A test failure gets dismissed because it hasn't caused a real problem yet. A risk gets documented—but never truly addressed. Nothing breaks immediately. So the project keeps moving. The conversation explores how this slow drift toward failure mirrors patterns seen in aviation, engineering disasters, and even mountaineering expeditions. Experienced professionals—people who know better—gradually normalize increasingly risky decisions until the system finally breaks. But the episode goes further than just diagnosing the problem. Dr. Brantley and the hosts dive into the decision dynamics inside projects. A typical project team makes dozens—or even hundreds—of decisions every week. Some have immediate consequences, while others take months or years to reveal their impact. One story from the Apollo program illustrates this perfectly: a weld defect made years earlier ultimately contributed to the crisis of Apollo 13. This delay between decision and consequence creates a dangerous blind spot. Dr. Brantley jokingly calls it the "White Castle effect." "White Castle burgers are great going down… and then at three in the morning you realize you made a bad decision." The same thing happens in project management. Decisions that seem harmless in the moment can produce painful consequences much later. One of the most powerful insights from the discussion is that organizations often fail to reflect on their decisions. Teams act, move forward, and stay busy—but rarely pause to ask whether their decisions are actually improving outcomes. That reflection step is critical. "Reflection really helps you break that normalization of deviance." Without it, teams never notice when small compromises start compounding into systemic risk. The episode also explores practical techniques for improving project decision-making. One of Dr. Brantley's favorites is red teaming—a method borrowed from military strategy and cybersecurity. In a red-team exercise, someone deliberately challenges the plan and tries to break it. Their job is to expose weaknesses before reality does. It's a powerful way to counter groupthink and create psychological safety for dissent. Another theme throughout the conversation is something many project managers intuitively know but rarely articulate: Every action—or inaction—on a project is ultimately a decision. "Everything is a decision. Nobody is going to come after you around anything other than decisions." Whether it's changing scope, delaying work, ignoring a risk, or choosing not to act at all, project leaders are constantly making decisions that shape the outcome of the project. The real question isn't whether decisions are happening. It's whether those decisions are intentional, visible, and thoughtfully examined. Because in many projects, failure doesn't arrive suddenly. It arrives slowly—one accepted deviation at a time. Love our content? Then join the PM Happy Hour membership at pmhappyhour.com/membership

This week we take a look at the Normalization of Deviance, a term coined by Diane Vaughan as she researched what really happened to the Challenger space shuttle in 1986. We talk about ways, big and small, that this anti-pattern can affect everything from massive enterprises like Boeing to startup software companies. Join the discussion on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcceptanceCriteria/ And on the Discord: https://discord.gg/2Tyj8H9MFF The post E022: The Normalization of Deviance led to the Challenger Disaster and can affect you too first appeared on Acceptance Criteria.

We're back! In the Season 6 premiere episode Alex looks at the extraordinary life of Akron, Ohio native NASA astronaut, Judy Resnik. We analyze the causes behind her tragic death in the Challenger Disaster on Jan. 28, 1986. On this 35th anniversary we take a fresh look at Judy's career and NASA's role in the loss of Challenger. Our guests include Helene Norin, Judy's cousin to discuss the Resnik family, Judy's youth in Akron and her journey to becoming the 2nd American female astronaut in space. Steven Leckart joins the show to talk about his excellent Netflix documentary, Challenger: The Final Flight. The 2020 documentary brings the Challenger crew and the controversy surrounding its final flight to millions of viewers. Lastly, we sat down with author and Columbia University professor Dr. Diane Vaughan to debunk some of the myths surrounding Challenger and her 1996 book Challenger Launch Decision. Click here to buy her award-winning book. https://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Launch-Decision-Technology-Deviance/dp/0226851761 This episode is in honor of Judy Resnik and Allan McDonald who passed away before we could complete our interview earlier this year. Allan was the "whistleblower" when it comes to the Challenger Disaster. We play some of Allan's testimony to the Rogers Commission following the accident and discuss his role in exposing the cover-up by some NASA administrators. Special thanks as well to friend of the show, Eric Hall, guitarist for the great Ohio band Red Wanting Blue. The music from today's episode was from Eric's new side project, Tick Tick Tick. Check out their debut EP at https://tick-tick-tick.bandcamp.com Ohio v. the World: An American History podcast is now part of the Evergreen Podcast Network. Go to https://evergreenpodcasts.com to check out all our past episodes and dozens of other great podcasts. Don't forget to rate and review our show and we'll read your reviews on the air in a future episode. We'll be releasing episodes every other Tuesday this season, great to be back and thanks for listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David & Diane Vaughan share about what God is doing through ThriVe and the world around us. Liberty Church

David & Diane Vaughan share about what God is doing through ThriVe and the world around us. Liberty Church

From NCBI: Normalization of deviance is a term first coined by sociologist Diane Vaughan when reviewing the Challenger disaster. Vaughan noted that the root cause of the Challenger disaster was related to the repeated choice of NASA officials to fly the space shuttle despite a dangerous design flaw with the O-rings. Vaughan describes this phenomenon as occurring when people within an organization become so insensitive to deviant practice that it no longer feels wrong. Insensitivity occurs insidiously and sometimes over years because disaster does not happen until other critical factors line up. In clinical practice, failing to do time outs before procedures, shutting off alarms, and breaches of infection control are deviances from evidence-based practice. As in other industries, health care workers do not make these choices intending to set into motion a cascade toward disaster and harm. Deviation occurs because of barriers to using the correct process or drivers such as time, cost, and peer pressure. As in other industries, operators will often adamantly defend their actions as necessary and justified. Although many other high-risk industries have embraced the normalization of deviance concept, it is relatively new to health care. It is urgent that we explore the impact of this concept on patient harm. We can borrow this concept from other industries and also the steps these other high-risk organizations have found to prevent it.

guest speaker Diane Vaughan Liberty Church

guest speaker Diane Vaughan Liberty Church

Guests Donna J. Harrison, M.D. - Executive Director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Josh Hawley - Missouri Attorney General, and Diane Vaughan, R.N. - Regional Manager for ThriVe St. Louis, talk about the state of women’s health care in Missouri. Dr. Harrison talks specifically about the rise of the abortion pill, or chemical abortion, in the state of Missouri and why that raises the risks for women who use it. Learn more about AAPLOG at aaplog.org. Josh Hawley speaks about his appeal of U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Missouri Howard Sachs’ ruling ordering the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services to expedite licensing four abortion clinics in Missouri. Read the statement from the Attorney General’s office at ago.mo.gov/home/news-archives/2017-news-archives/ag-hawley-issues-statement-on-planned-parenthood-order-promises-to-appeal. Diane Vaughan talks about ThriVe St. Louis and how they serve women with lost-cost/no-cost healthcare options in the St. Louis region. Find out more about how ThriVe helps keep women informed and sets them up for success at thrivestlouis.org.

guest speaker Diane Vaughan Liberty Church

guest speaker Diane Vaughan Liberty Church

guest speaker Diane Vaughan Liberty Church

Dr. David J. Vaughan and guest speakers: Sandy Sanders, Austin McCartney, Diane Vaughan and Kyla Liberty Church

Main Scripture passage: Luke 10:30-35 Diane Vaughan and Suzy Snider share about their involvement with Thrive, a pro-life organization based in the ST/ Louis area, and Dr. David Vaughan draws from the passage of the Good Samaritan in his sermon, Three Reasons to Discuss Abortion. Liberty Church