What Sci-Fi Movies Teach Us About Project Management Skills 186
Esther Schindler writes "It's certainly fun to pretend to find work inspiration from our favorite SF films. That's what Carol Pinchefsky does in two posts, one about positive business lessons you can take away from SF films (such as 'agile thinking can save many a project (and project manager) in a crisis' from Robocop and team motivation lessons from Buffy), and the other, 5 Project Management Horror Stories Found in Sci-Fi Movies, with examples of the impact of poor documentation on Captain America."
SF and project management (Score:5, Insightful)
"We shall redouble our efforts"
The commander of Death Star 2 when Vader told him the Emperor was coming to inspect the project.
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"We shall redouble our efforts"
The commander of Death Star 2 when Vader told him the Emperor was coming to inspect the project.
I think spaceballs taught us everything we need to know about bad management.
"The Secret Combination Is . . . 1, 2, 3, 4, 5".
Re:SF and project management (Score:4, Interesting)
"We shall redouble our efforts"
I've always wondered... Why didn't he just say quadruple?
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I've always wondered... Why didn't he just say quadruple?
I assume it's because he's already doubled his efforts once and quadrupling would mean a total 8x increase compared to the original amount of effort?
Also, "redouble" doesn't have to literally mean "double again,"
it can be used less specifically to mean "a great increase"
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On day one in scriptwriting class they teach you that long words like "quadruple" are only allowed during techno-babble and never during normal conversation.
Re:SF and project management (Score:5, Insightful)
Because redouble doesn't mean quadruple.
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"We shall redouble our efforts"
The commander of Death Star 2 when Vader told him the Emperor was coming to inspect the project.
As a PHB, I learned a lot from the Empire. I'm looking forward to the new sequels where the Empire gets to win.
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Because like in most IT projects, they concentrated on the big things and completely ignored the small stuff. In their case, they were worried about defending themselves against battleships (or whatever the rebels were using), not small, one-man ships.
In IT projects, everyone is so worried about getting the big things done, they miss the obvious little stuff. Let's build a web site where people can look up how much more
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Politics. Guessing that snub fighters weren't in the initial spec, so they weren't accounted for. Once the problem was found, it was glossed over to protect the well-connected people who made the mistake in the first place. Hey, the death toll was only in the thousands, no big deal. Someone probably did a quiet cost/benefit analysis and determined that the expense of fixing the problem would raise too many troubling questions, and when the boss has a habit of Force choking people who rock the boat, tha
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Stewie (Darth Vader): That is fantastic. Terrific work. So no weaknesses at all?
Admiral Motti: N... no.
Stewie (Darth Vader): You, uh, you hesitated there. Is there something I should know?
Admiral Motti: No, it's virtually indestructible, like 99.99%.
Stewie (Darth Vader): Uh, okay, wouldn't be doing my job if
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Was he hoping to complete it a parsec early?
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I wish you'd have written TFA, because I thought TFA sucked. Buffy the Vampire Slayer? That is NOT science fiction, nor Batman, nor Ghostbusters. The "lesson" from the STNG episode? "Think outside the box."
Lame article, I'll bet the comments here are a lot better (just started reading them)
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Worst. Summary. EVAR.
Science Fact (Score:5, Interesting)
You don't need to reach for SF to get a great project management lesson, just look at the Apollo program.
A triumph of the human spirit, of technology, of ingenuity, sure - but mainly, an overwhelming triumph of project management. Who says the government can't handle any big jobs, eh? (well, anyone who's been watching for the last 40 years maybe...)
Re:Science Fact (Score:5, Informative)
A triumph of the human spirit, of technology, of ingenuity, sure - but mainly, an overwhelming triumph of project management.
And then NASA changed their management. And the new management dropped "belt and suspenders" "managing for Murphy's law" in favor of "managing for success". And they launched Challenger when the solid-fuel booster O-rings were too cold to seat properly, over the objections of the engineers.
And the space program was put on hold for 2 2/3 years.
Re:Science Fact (Score:4, Interesting)
“Crash programs fail because they are based on the theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby a month.”
Wernher Von Braun
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Parallelize, and start over many times, and of course, each baby still take nine months to "produce", but globally, each 9 women will get you a baby a month.
It is not Project, it is Run. Different objectives, different rules, different outcomes.
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but globally, each 9 women will get you a baby a month.
"...but on average, you will get a about baby a month." That's all you can really say.
Re:Science Fact (Score:5, Interesting)
And they launched Challenger when the solid-fuel booster O-rings were too cold to seat properly, over the objections of the engineers.
That's true, but what's even sadder is that those damn O-rings should've never even been there in the first place. The SRBs were meant to be a one piece monolithic design. However it was changed into a segmented multi piece O-ring design because pork had to be provided to Morton Thiokol at the insistence of the senator from Utah, who held the purse strings. (Thiokol, being in Utah, cannot ship a large one piece by ocean and could only build segmented ones shipped by rail)
The lesson here is, do not let managers into your project who have their own agendas that conflict with the main project's mission.
Re:Science Fact (Score:4, Informative)
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Some pressure was put on Feynman....
That I would have liked to see personally.
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Seriously, you should read the book because its awesome.
I did - that's why I would have liked to personally witness someone trying to intimidate RF.
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Re:Science Fact (Score:5, Informative)
No, they were never "meant" to be anything - there is no "absolute" Shuttle design from which the existing one was a departure.
No, they were changed to segmented design because nobody could figure out how to cast *one* motor grain with consistent burn properties (the monolithic grain took so long to cure that it stratified) - and the Shuttle required a matched pair. Nor could the figure out how to prevent the grain from flowing out the nozzle (the weight of the monolithic grain exceeded the strength of the grain material, resulting in the grain creeping under it's own weight). Not to mention the problem of handling a million plus pound motor without damaging it (as little as 3mm flex over the length of the casing could delaminate the grain from the casing and crack the grain).
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SRB's should have never been there. This was design-by congress. It's the reason the shuttle failed, ultimately; it never delivered what it promised (cheap, reusable payloads to orbit; dual-use, cross-range capability). And it was so unsafe, they had to stop flying it, and were never able to afford to follow-through on developing successors (like X-33).
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And then NASA changed their management. And the new management dropped "belt and suspenders" "managing for Murphy's law" in favor of "managing for success". And they launched Challenger
You say this as if previous management didn't also have blood on their hands. Apollo 1 saw 3 astronauts burnt alive in their capsule.
Flammable materials, pure Oxygen environment, negative pressure preventing door from opening doesn't really smell like "managing for Murphy's law".
Re:Science Fact (Score:4, Interesting)
And Apollo 12, which was sent to the Moon despite having been hit by lighting and possibly having damage which could not be detected. And Apollo (IIRC) 15, which had a failed cable assembly in the SPS - and which was allowed to go into Lunar orbit even though the mission rules specified a return to Earth. (There are others, but these are the ones that leap to mind off hand.)
Apollo era NASA was lucky, they kept making bets and rolling snake eyes - and then covered up for decades just how big the risks had been and how close they repeatedly came to disaster.
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I've used this example as one of management overruling the techies. The engineers argued against launching in the cold, And management said, "My God. When do you want me to launch? Next April?"
They launched. The thing failed spectacularly, People died. And they did not launch again for over two years.
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Apollo was problem solving. None of the stuff cited here is "agile" and this is all bullshit. Real PM is a lot of boring technical skills... fun to do, boring to watch.
7 Habits (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like it's time for Covey to come back to life and write "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Fictional Characters."
Hmm... (Score:4, Funny)
Sci-Fi teaches us not to hire George Lucas... he's terrible.
No movies (Score:1)
No movies will teach you about real skills needed for efficient project management. People who possess those skills are usually busy doing something else and consider their PM as pure overhead. It doesn't mean you have to be harsh with them. I mean help them as much as you can, sometimes, they might even cover your ass and take the hit for you if they are good PM.
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People who possess those skills are usually busy doing something else
Protip: Linux is successfull because of amazing project management by Linus. Hell, I consider Git a bigger boon to the world than Linux. Anyone can write a damn simple monolithic kernel [osdev.org], but to immediately gather a community and be able to maintain it is a rare skill. Leadership isn't key in sci-fi? Being in the right place at the right time with the right people helps too -- Also evidenced in sci-fi: A rag-tag group of ethnically diverse individuals from all walks of life will save the day! Diversity
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The best management is still to stay out of your team's way, give them what they need to get their work done and make sure they're not pestered by beancounters.
Works for me, at least. You just need a very motivated team, if you got slackers then you're in trouble.
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The project managers greatest application of skill is to manage the necessity of themselves out of project completion. The best project managers have very successful projects whilst seeming to do not very much at all, the worst are of course the exact opposite, failed projects whilst working flat out all of the time. I liken it to the story of the woodsman and his axe, the one that was always working flat out and never had time to stop to sharpen his axe (the smart woodsman plans ahead and regularly sharpe
Where is Matrix? (Score:2)
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Hmm... so the NSA will hire Al Quaida to hunt down Snowden?
Nope... (Score:2)
Didn't help my bosses (Score:1)
"Never tell me the odds" and then plow through it like crazed cowboys
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'Armageddon' also taught us to not to had off the science checking to the intern that no one listens to unless you have a marketing budget rivaling the Superbowl.
Although 'Deep Impact' taught us that even if the science is right a lack of marketing budget is difficult to overcome.
Ender's Game (Score:4, Interesting)
Ender sees the great potential in his team, even in the misfits and castaways, but he also has high expectations for them to reach that potential. That is what I try to do as a leader.
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Ender sees the great potential in his team, even in the misfits and castaways, but he also has high expectations for them to reach that potential. That is what I try to do as a leader.
I try to emulate Ender too, but I prefer his "If you have a bunch of assholes impeding progress kick their leader to death. The others will fall in line" approach to team building.
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Actually it's Bean. (Score:2)
It is Bean the one who first sees the potential in those misfits and castaways and assembles the team for Ender to command.
I avoided Ender's Shadow for a few years thinking it would be just a rehash of a great book (if you haven't read it don't watch the mediocre movie before reading the book), but it is actually pretty good.
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There is of course the number one rule (Score:2)
Don't plan ahead, try to foresee difficulties and solve issue way before they come up. Instead blow things off, leave out important details and try to solve everything at the last possible moment. That's good management, or at least a interesting movie
sarcasm off
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My favorite is, don't tell your team the plan just give them a bunch of tasks. Let them question the outcome but don't let them know that when everything looks like it is about to fail you'll pull out your final thing and save the day explaining all the random crap you did to start with.
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Well, on the plus-side, pretty much any sci-fi disaster (or pretty much any disaster) movie tells us that the beancounters will ignore the engineers who would actually know what to do until it's almost too late, then the engineer will risk career, neck and the life of loved ones to save the day and in the end the beancounter will be praised for it.
Wait, did I say plus-side?
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Also that the single macho dude who is a technological ignoramus and who operates by feelings alone rather than by logic will save the day and get the girl by doing something so random that it violates probability and most of the laws of physics.
Every Large Project (Score:4, Insightful)
leadership lessons from unusual places (Score:2)
You forgot the best one of them all (Score:2)
If you haven't seen it, there may be spoilers.
THX 1138 surprisingly by George Lucas.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066434 [imdb.com]
The ending is a lesson for project managers.
The one lesson from Robocop: (Score:2)
Do not let a private company take over what should be government's job.
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The answer (Score:2)
The answer is, of course, fuck all.
What the author meant was:
Here's what I think about project management skills, and here are a few vaguely coincidentally similar situations in sci-fi movies to make me look nerdcool
The Robocop Example -- First Waffle (Score:2)
The Robocop example is really the 'first waffle' concept. You always have to make a first waffle, and it's almost always bad -- the iron's just not warm enough, oily enough or whatever until the second one comes out. But there's always, by definition, a first one. So just plan on your first iteration of a project to fail and to start over and do it right based on what you learned about the wrong way to start. Or not. Either way, the first iteration fails. You can throw it out and start over, or you can try
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a few things to make your life more wonderful
1 put your engineers (and security folks) in the best amour you can (hint in space these should be vacuum rated) ,Defense and Fix)
2 always have your basic tools on you (Com
3 Boots are a groovy place to put spare tools
4 CNC should always have medium/heavy weapons "stashed" somewhere
5 You either can Take a Joke or YOU ARE THE JOKE
5 always rig stuff with an extra power input (esp stuff that can go BOOM if it loses power)
oh and the real RoboCop lesson
Your Core Rules
Here's a book I like (Score:2)
What about Jurassic Park? (Score:5, Insightful)
How can you write about IT project management failures in sci-fi movies and not mention Jurassic Park?
For all Malcolm's talk about "chaos theory", the failure of the park was a very predictable result of (1) relying heavily on IT for mission-critical systems, and (2) putting all of this IT infrastructure in the hands of one guy, that the CEO knows is disgruntled! Any project manager with half a brain should have seen it coming. But Hammond, who "spared no expense" on everything else, apparently couldn't be bothered to hire a competent CIO, or spring for a real IT team.
A general rule of project management, not only in IT but in other fields as well, is that you should never have critical, undocumented knowledge that is in the possession of only one employee. The reason is obvious: if that employee quits, or is fired, or gets hit by a bus, or is eaten by a Dilophosaurus, you're completely screwed. All mission-critical systems should be covered by multiple people and should be properly documented.
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Aliens (Score:2)
What can happen when the boss has an ulterior motive of which the staff is unaware. Worse yet, that motive requires that the project, as officially defined, must fail miserably.
I've been on a number of in-house projects where someone up the chain got a call from some outside vendor. If only your project were to fail, we could be brought in to consult/rescue it/sell your company our technology. And you'd get a kickback for that.
Pay no attention to the entrails of your staff splattered about the landscape.
Moon (Score:2)
The pitfalls of treating staff as interchangeable resources.
Darth Vader (Score:2)
Re:What Sci-fi movies? (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean you have Star Wars, Star Trek, Senerity, Farscape (I guess), Dune (maybe). A few movies from the 60's/70's (silent running, 2001, whatever).
What other sci-fi movies are there? It's all shit.
Alien. Aliens.
... when there's science involved (look at me still talking ...)
It's a stunning reminder of the value of human life
Re:What Sci-fi movies? (Score:5, Funny)
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Ripley demonstrated the value of strong leadership in a crisis (when everyone else is panicking).
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Re:What Sci-fi movies? (Score:4, Insightful)
What other sci-fi movies are there? It's all shit.
According to TFS, Buffy is Sci-Fi. I knew right then not to read the article.
Re:What Sci-fi movies? (Score:4, Insightful)
I do always hate it when science fiction and fantasy get mixed in together as "genre films." I have nothing against fantasy, mind you. And I'm aware there is a lot of crossover, especially among genre writers. But the two are very different forms in many ways. Sure, you can intermix them--in the same way you could make a science fiction noir detective story, or a science fiction sports movie. But fantasy generally incorporates implausible or supernatural elements, whereas science fiction stories generally stick to elements that must at least be justified as POSSIBLE in their setting. Not that the lines don't get blurred sometimes.
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Part of the problem is that there are almost no Science Fiction films out there, so that means people tend to lump science fantasy and fantasy films together.
We need to educate start educating the public people.
Re:What Sci-fi movies? (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't let Khan near anything.
If it breeds, it can take over your ship.
Sleeping with the test proctor will let you beat the no-win scenario.
If you have a bad feeling about something, it's a trap.
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Wow, there's a ton, but it is hard to think of them out of the blue. A few were:
Silent Running
Galactic Quest
Real Genius
Short Circuit
Men in Black
The Last Mimzy
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Moon
Blade Runner
The Matrix
Inception
The Fifth Element
Gattaca
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
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Gattaca
When it comes to sci-fi movies, you can't forget that little underappreciated masterpiece
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Speaking of underrated science fiction films, I would like to also throw in a movie that often gets overlooked: Time After Time [wikipedia.org]. How can you beat a science fiction film where the protagonist is H.G. Wells?
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So, it's true. Trolls really DO live in caves.
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Alien and Aliens say hello.
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Fuckin' aye.
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Ask any teenager how their smart phone works. To them it's indistinguishable from magic.
Oh, you did say "more primitive", didn't you? Never mind.
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T2 is an action movie with a bit of sci-fi. Terminator is a sci-fi movie with action bits.
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What do you mean "The Matrix (1)"? Did they make other ones?
No. Obligatory XKCD, last strip [xkcd.com]
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"Science fiction" doesn't have to be pewpewpew Star Wars fantasy. Gravity could be a straight golden-era SF short story.
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A one way mission becomes exploration.
Creating a some new weapons system from an alien becomes productive medical research.
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<shrug> "Hey, it's what we do".
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I think wrestling is perfectly cromulent for the Syfylis channel.
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So when is the US due?
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Erh... boss, it might not be the best time for it, but here's my 2 weeks notice...
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Learn about mythology and storytelling.
Throughout much of mankind's history, lessons have been handed down from one generation to the next by wrapping them in some fable or fictional tale. You think Aesop was just teaching us about talking animals?
The stories don't have to be true or even plausible (Aesop's Fables, Star Wars, etc.). Just written well to communicate the underlying message.
One significant work of fiction written to communicate moral lessons is the Bible. Too bad so many people miss the mes
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I get the storytelling part, actually, and accept stories are great ways to convey lessons. What I reject is the notion that because things happen a certain way in stories, we should assume they happen that way in real life. I object when we stop and don't draw the parallels between real life and the story to establish that the story is more than just a work of fiction. If you don't do that, you can "teach" lessons which are compelling (because they're well written), but just not true. Case in point, I
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And me without mod points. Where did that requisition form go to?
And there's proper requirements communication: "Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us."