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What Sci-Fi Movies Teach Us About Project Management Skills
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."
I couldn't follow this at all. Can you put it in a PowerPoint for me? Thanks.
"We shall redouble our efforts"
The commander of Death Star 2 when Vader told him the Emperor was coming to inspect the project.
where wrestling is considered Science Fiction. I continue to wait for them to start rolling COPS episodes and Bizarre Foods.
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
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
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...)
Perfectly Normal Industries
Outsource when you can't do a job yourself?
Sounds like it's time for Covey to come back to life and write "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Fictional Characters."
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Sci-Fi teaches us not to hire George Lucas... he's terrible.
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.
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Even if I dial my nerd pedantry down to the level where I twitch only slightly when somebody calls Star Wars 'sci-fi' on account of it happening in the sciency environment of space, I can't allow 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' to be called SF without comment. I just can't. The lesson Ms Pinchefsky dragooned Buffy into was "Motivate your team members". Setting aside the question of whether any skull thick enough to not have already picked up advice that general is going to have the Eureka moment from reading a forced analogy to a TV show: is Buffy the only work of fiction from which we could squeeze this lesson? Of course not. In Dune, did the future Kwisatz Haderach not motivate the Fremen? In Battlestar Galactica, did Commander Adama not motivate his team at some point? I assume he did. I'm no Pinchefsky, admittedly, but still I can't shake the thought that she could have found some muse that did not muddy an already much-abused designation.
And actually it seems my outrage this evening had not met its limit at the outset of this post, which I thought it surely had, but having read about the episode from which Ms Pinchefsky seized her lesson, it turns out to be *even worse* than an improper use of the term SF. Buffy is fired for screaming at patrons that they are eating human meat. Should we really be taking management lessons from the woman who hired her back? Don't do that! Don't rehire employees who are literally screaming bloody murder at the customers! They are bad employees, and you are better off without them. This insightful management lesson from fantasy I offer to you for free.
My main point is that seeing this bullshit offered without even some mild qualm just makes me depressed about Slashdot.
I bet there are a lot of lessons there, including not giving your agents too much independence, they could screw things so badly that you will need to hire your enemies to get rid of them.
Gantz? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantz_(live_action_films)
After the scene has been set and you embark upon your heroic and seemingly impossible mission, spend 90% of the project avoiding peril after peril, until just before the end you cause the whole thing to blow up.
And definitely don't hold out for the sequel where pretty much the same thing happens again.
Of the ten highest-grossing movies this year, #6 is Gravity, which is unquestionably SF, #9 is Star Trek, which you listed, and #10 is World War Z, which I think a case could be made for if you sort of squint and look at it right. That's not bad! I wouldn't give up on the genre yet.
Here are the real lessons of Sci-Fi movies.
Wherein the Evil Empire sets out to destroy the Androids that could result in its' destruction, but fails due to some major design flaws (and some seriously bad public relations issues), and is ultimately destroyed by its' own hubris.
(-1, Drama Lama)
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.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Team! You either make the deadline, or you die a horrible death in the hands of our local corporate lawyer. Your choice.
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.
Then you have bigger problems than lacking business skills.
"Never tell me the odds" and then plow through it like crazed cowboys
Table-ized A.I.
The only thing mentioned that's true sci-fi would be star trek. The others are either sci-fantasy or border on it.
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
Star Trek has telekinesis, ESP, and other paranormal crap... which to me, makes it questionable as sci-fi.
Not a hip movie to like right now, but Ender's Game is almost all about project management and leadership.
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.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
For God's sake put an off switch on the damn machine.
Or, always plan an exit strategy before you implement a can't loose solution.
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
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Star Trek has telekinesis, ESP, and other paranormal crap... which to me, makes it questionable as sci-fi.
The line between sci-fi and fantasy has never really been all that clear-cut.
Should have a prominent big red self destruct button. This button should not do anything, and it should be booby trapped.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I've been on several projects where I fervently wished "dust off and nuke it from orbit" was a project management option. It is, after all, the only way to be sure.
Alien and Aliens say hello.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
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
a,e,i,o,u and sometimes w and y (at be if of up cwm by)
Applebuck Season: You're less productive working 80-hour weeks than you think you are. The whole "lean in" thing is killing you, AJ. Stop and ask for help.
Suited for Success: Stop worrying about what the customer wants, deliver what the customer actually needs.
Owl's Well That Ends Well: The n00b isn't necessarily there to take your job, they might have just been hired to ease your workload. Stop being a dick to the new guy/gal.
Lesson Zero: Stop worrying about the deadlines. If it was important, the ship date would have slipped.
Hearth's Warming Eve: The devs (earth ponies) blame arrogant QA/process weenies (pegasi), the QA department blames management (unicorns) for impossible demands, management blames those slacker devs, and society collapses under the ineptness of its own org chart.
Wonderbolts Academy: At first glance, it's a "Top Gun" parody, but upon reflection, this is basically how XP/pair programming worked.
Apple Family Reunion: Is this episode about Thanksgiving, or is it about HR departments and teambuilding exercises?
Just for Sidekicks: Managers, this is what your underlings are actually up to while the brass is in town. (Games Ponies Play: Grunts, this is how inept your managers are at trying to impress the brass while they're in town and you're slacking off.)
Princess Twilight Sparkle: The first ten minutes is about matrix management and cross-training. The second ten minutes is about the fact that it doesn't matter as long as you sell the company and everyone gets a fat check at the exit.
I like to find leadership lessons from unusual places too. I occasionally write about them on my blog. This year, that included IT leadership lessons from Zombies, and leadership lessons from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! Coaching Buttons blog :-)
in agile
Let's not forget:
Moon
Blade Runner
The Matrix
Inception
The Fifth Element
Gattaca
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
There is not a shred of SF in Gravity. It is a modern disaster movie.
Can't comment yet, still filling out form Reply-13-12.19.
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.
Not shit: District 9. Bladerunner. Alien. Aliens. The Matrix (1). The Fifth Element. Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
How about Primer?
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
Nuking the whole thing is always an option for a project manager. If you didn't have that option available to you, then you were just a worker bee all along.
T2 is an action movie with a bit of sci-fi. Terminator is a sci-fi movie with action bits.
If you haven't seen it, there may be spoilers.
THX 1138 surprisingly by George Lucas.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066434
The ending is a lesson for project managers.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Gattaca
When it comes to sci-fi movies, you can't forget that little underappreciated masterpiece
Uh, no offence.
The best lesson to be learnt from Aliens is one that doesn't just apply to project management, it can be applied to meetings, presentations etc in all walks of life:
"Any questions?" .......
"How do I get out of this Chicken Shit outfit?"
I can name a couple: Jurassic Park III is a great BOFH story. And TRON is about corporate politics.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
How about Primer?
"Always keep a master time machine in reserve.", best project management advise ever.
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.
Children of Men, Moon, Inception, The Matrix, Babylon 5, Blade Runner, District 9, The Abyss, Terminator 2, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Fifth Element, Metropolis (1927 and 2001 versions), Akira, Sunshine, Dark City, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Repo Man, Gravity, Andromeda Strain (original), Looper, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Jurassic Park, Gattaca, Planet of the Apes, Galaxy Quest, eXistenZ, The Fountain, Cube.
Wish I could mod this up.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
Do not let a private company take over what should be government's job.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If the client requests a change mid-sprint, test their part in the decision via Amtal Rule.
May thy knife chip and shatter!
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
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
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.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Don't forget lens flares.
Because that would mean workers putting in a 72-hour day.
So, it's true. Trolls really DO live in caves.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Ripley demonstrated the value of strong leadership in a crisis (when everyone else is panicking).
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
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.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Why make one when you can have two at twice the price!
Fuckin' aye.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Speaking of underrated science fiction films, I would like to also throw in a movie that often gets overlooked: Time After Time. How can you beat a science fiction film where the protagonist is H.G. Wells?
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
True. Lots of classic SF novels have paranormal events or other conceits beyond our knowledge of physics (FTL, anyone?), but to me the distinction is:
SF: Given what we know through science, imagine the possibilities!
Fantasy: Given that anything is possible, imagine the possibilities!
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 to make the best of that ruined waffle. So why not plan on it?
Also, read "The Mythical Man Month". Amazingly, there are managers (and managees) who haven't. They don't have time? Really, you don't have time not to.
And how did the author of TFA miss the best one: pad your time estimates like Scotty.
I am not a crackpot.
Star Trek: Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: The Next Generation It's a good discussion of management techniques.
What do you mean "The Matrix (1)"? Did they make other ones?
Is it just me, or do you hate it when people say "Is it just me..."?
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.
The Fifth Element shows advanced Negotionation methods.
You know what Sci-Fi can teach you about $REALLIFE? Nothing. Because it's fiction. You can learn things from real life due to this little thing called causality. In books, effect follows cause not necessarily because it really would in real life, but because the author chose it to happen.
Some brokerage house ran an ad years ago something like "What can a picket fence gate teach you about investing?" Of course the answer is the same. Absolutely nothing. However, you can learn about investing AND learn about picket fences and discover commonalities. In no way have you used what you learned about fences to understand investing.
Idiocracy. God it the best science fiction movie with project management guidance.
Brawado ! Why because it's got electrolytes dumb ass.
If you have not, please watch it once to get PM insights.
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.
The Last Mimzy was anything but SF. It was, after all, based on the assumptions your emotions encoded into your DNA during your life.
I haven't seen the original, but the rebooted Battlestar Galactica series seems like pretty good sci-fi.
It basically gives us: mass space tavel, FTL drives (needed for any space fiction that is going between star systems), Cylons. Basically everything else they have already exists (Nukes, guns, anti-biotics). There is religion thrown in, but so far, most of the religion stuff has seemed unmagical.
"gimmie the cassshhhhh"
Ask Scotty to beam them up.
Thats true management there.
The line between sci-fi and fantasy has never really been all that clear-cut.
Sci-fi has science/technology, and fantasy has magic.
And this is where Clarke's Third Law comes from: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws
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.
Have gnu, will travel.
The pitfalls of treating staff as interchangeable resources.
Have gnu, will travel.
That is... a VERY nice hat!
Clearly there was a major flaw in the requirements stage for this - the person who omitted "The project must not enslave humanity." has a lot to answer for, although it's possibly it was just due to vague requirements specification and there was a "The project should not enslave humanity." in there, that the developers felt they had to work around in order to achieve the management goals.
Other than that though, it's a wonderful example of project management on a very large systems engineering effort gone right. The system's so robust that it *kills* people who try to introduce bugs or take it down, it integrates with a completely incompatible outside system seamlessly (pre-dating Plug And Play by decades), the resulting combined system scales well (it's too old to be web scale, so shut up), it's not beyond using the threat of nuclear destruction to make sure its deadlines are met (and hopefully to target people who ask if it's web scale) and it not only patches itself, but by the end of the movie it's fully in charge of its own SDLC and is working on writing the next major release without outside intervention. Other than the killing people and enslaving humanity bit, which can be characterized as a feature as well as a bug, who *wouldn't* want to manage a project like that?
I find pornographic films to be more analogous to business. Because no matter the industry, somebody is always trying to f*c you.
Buffy was more fantasy than scifi, but it did both. For example there was a robot/android earlier in the same season as the doublemeat palace episodes mentioned in this article.
It wasn't simply an enemy to be destroyed either, it attempted to play a parental role in the life of a human child. I kept it vague to prevent spoilers even though it is an old show.
"I'm here to put you back on schedule."
Have gnu, will travel.
I agree wholeheartedly! That sentence made no sense what-so-fucking-ever! Mandatory grammar for all!
> And TRON is about corporate politics.
Well, kind of... if totalitarian dictator AI's are an everyday concern at your office! It's basically a Star Wars type plot.
Bruce Sterling's Islands in the Net is about corporate politics. I tried reading that, but was bored to tears by the third chapter. TRON is closer to Neuromancer than Islands. Or should I say "Neuromancer is closer to TRON," since TRON came out first?
What do you mean "The Matrix (1)"? Did they make other ones?
No. Obligatory XKCD, last strip
Did you stop watching after two seasons or something? The answer to all the questions but forward by BSG was "God did it".
But he doesn't like to be called that.
Wrong hero: not the Greatest American Hero.
Not the first series with kirk.
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
Most movies mix it. Take battlefield earth. Horrendous movie, phenomenal book. Then you have the E. E. Doc Smith novels. Brilliantly done but most won't get it at all.
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
Dude, it was there from the very beginning. Turn in your geek card.