What Sci-Fi Movies Teach Us About Project Management Skills

SF and project management by rossdee · 2013-12-19 15:47 · 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.

Re:SF and project management by flargleblarg · 2013-12-19 19:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

"We shall redouble our efforts"
I've always wondered... Why didn't he just say quadruple?
Re:SF and project management by TubeSteak · 2013-12-19 20:47 · Score: 2

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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Re:SF and project management by Sez+Zero · 2013-12-19 23:30 · Score: 1

"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.
Re:SF and project management by AmiMoJo · 2013-12-19 23:49 · Score: 1

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.

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Re:SF and project management by SonnyDog09 · 2013-12-20 00:55 · Score: 1

I always wondered how they got the design of the Death Star through the review committee given its obvious flaws. If your expensive creation can be destroyed by a single shot, why build it?

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Re:SF and project management by smooth+wombat · 2013-12-20 01:28 · Score: 1

If your expensive creation can be destroyed by a single shot, why build it?

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 they're going to pay for insurance. Great idea boss!

*9 months rolls by* We got the web site up and it looks fantastic!

Why aren't people using our site? Why does it keep crashing?

Um, we didn't account for how many people might want to look, including the media, didn't provide enough personnel to perform significant load testing and didn't allot enough time to check for bugs and inaccurate information.

Same thing with the Death Star. They wanted something big and powerful, to show the world how great they were. They didn't take the time to do the nitty gritty stuff which is necessary to complete a successful project (which is why 70% of IT projects fail).

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Re:SF and project management by DerekLyons · 2013-12-20 01:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

"We shall redouble our efforts"
I've always wondered... Why didn't he just say quadruple?
Because redouble doesn't mean quadruple.
Re:SF and project management by BVis · 2013-12-20 01:40 · Score: 1

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, that boat doesn't get rocked.

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Re:SF and project management by Hognoxious · 2013-12-20 03:02 · Score: 1

Was he hoping to complete it a parsec early?

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Re:SF and project management by mcgrew · 2013-12-20 05:36 · Score: 1

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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Re:SF and project management by rwise2112 · 2013-12-20 06:48 · Score: 1

Admiral Motti: Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained. This station is now the ultimate power in the universe.
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 I didn't ask what's the 0.01?
Admiral Motti: Well, I mean, there's this little hole. It was kind of an aesthetic choice by the architect. And if you shoot a laser into this hole, the station blows up.
Stewie (Darth Vader): Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! That sounds like a pretty big design flaw, then.
Admiral Motti: No, no, the hole's only two meters across.
Mayor Adam West (Grand Moff Tarkin): Well, that's no bigger than a womp rat.
Admiral Motti: Exactly. And even to get within range of it, you have to skim along this whole trench. It's not a big deal.
Stewie (Darth Vader): Can't we board it up or, you know, put some plywood over it or something?
Admiral Motti: Well, that would look terrible. I mean, we gotta think about resale.
Stewie (Darth Vader): Resale? What are you talking about? This property is right above Sunset. The value is only going to go up.
Admiral Motti: Lord Vader, your inside references to the Los Angeles real estate market haven't given you the clairvoyance to turn a profit on that condo in Glendale. Nor has it...
Stewie (Darth Vader): [Vader begins to choke him] I find your lack of faith disturbing. That property is in a prime location! Twenty minutes to the beach, twenty minutes to downtown!
Admiral Motti: [choking] There's nothing to do downtown!
Mayor Adam West (Grand Moff Tarkin): Enough of this! Vader, release him!
Stewie (Darth Vader): As you wish.
[releases Tagge]
Stewie (Darth Vader): All right, so were' going to plug up that hole?
Imperial Officer: Yeah, we can get it done tomorrow if price is no object.
Stewie (Darth Vader): Ehhhh...
Imperial Officer: We'll get estimates.
Stewie (Darth Vader): Get estimates, yeah, yeah.

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"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
Re:SF and project management by Zynder · 2013-12-20 14:55 · Score: 1

You forgot to finish your rant with:
Worst. Summary. EVAR.

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by DavidClarkeHR · 2013-12-19 15:56 · Score: 3, 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.

It's a stunning reminder of the value of human life ... when there's science involved (look at me still talking ...)

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Science Fact by bscott · 2013-12-19 16:01 · Score: 4, 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...)

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Re:Science Fact by Ungrounded+Lightning · 2013-12-19 16:47 · Score: 4, Informative

... 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.
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.

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Re:Science Fact by jd2112 · 2013-12-19 17:06 · Score: 3, Interesting

Appropriate quote:

“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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Re:Science Fact by Spy+Handler · 2013-12-19 17:42 · 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 by dbIII · 2013-12-19 19:45 · Score: 3, Informative

What's also sad is the engineers then had to sneak around their management to get to talk to the one guy on the inquiry that could not be threatened with loss of reputation if he delivered bad news. Some pressure was put on Feynman to drop the issue but thankfully he ignored it and the ugly truth came out.
Re:Science Fact by lfourrier · 2013-12-19 20:21 · Score: 1

As already explained by I don't remember who, it can be a correct measure, if your objective is to have a lot of people in a few years.

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.
Re:Science Fact by thegarbz · 2013-12-19 22:22 · Score: 1

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 by PseudonymousBlowhard · 2013-12-19 23:48 · Score: 1

I don't think this affects your main point, but it's pretty clear from Feynman's book "What Do You Care What Other People Think" that the information about the O-rings got to Feynman via an Air Force general called Donald Kutyna who was also on the commission (and had contacts in NASA).
Re:Science Fact by paiute · 2013-12-20 00:17 · Score: 1

Some pressure was put on Feynman....
That I would have liked to see personally.

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Re:Science Fact by DerekLyons · 2013-12-20 01:42 · Score: 4, Informative

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.
No, they were never "meant" to be anything - there is no "absolute" Shuttle design from which the existing one was a departure.

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)
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).
Re:Science Fact by DerekLyons · 2013-12-20 01:52 · Score: 3, Interesting

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".
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.
Re:Science Fact by SonnyDog09 · 2013-12-20 01:58 · Score: 1

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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Re:Science Fact by bluefoxlucid · 2013-12-20 02:16 · Score: 2

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.

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Re:Science Fact by Oligonicella · 2013-12-20 03:38 · Score: 1

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 by phantomfive · 2013-12-20 08:04 · Score: 1

Apparently they gave him mountains of information and hoped he would get lost in it. He said, "They underestimated how quickly I can process information."

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Re:Science Fact by dbIII · 2013-12-20 14:33 · Score: 1

Read what you've written. That's not official channels and sounds exactly like engineers having to sneak around their management doesn't it? Kutyna was in a position where he could be threatened so that's why we heard it from a dying Nobel prize winner who had bigger things to worry about than losing his job.
Re:Science Fact by jafac · 2013-12-20 19:29 · Score: 1

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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Re:Science Fact by PseudonymousBlowhard · 2013-12-20 22:09 · Score: 1

I read it, hence "I don't think this affects your main point". Just thought Kutyna deserves more credit than he usually gets when this story is told.
Re:Science Fact by dbIII · 2013-12-21 01:53 · Score: 1

Good point. What I found galling is that Kutyna alone probably couldn't have got the message out before being sidelined. IMHO due to how NASA exec positions were handed out as prizes by the powerful in politics it looked like it needed someone already staring death in the face to speak out without being silenced.
Re:Science Fact by paiute · 2013-12-21 09:19 · Score: 1

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:Couldn't follow... by AHuxley · 2013-12-19 16:01 · Score: 1

When your dystopian underlings or royal space subjects comment on aspects of a "mission" a smile, propaganda and lies can go down well.
A one way mission becomes exploration.
Creating a some new weapons system from an alien becomes productive medical research.

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7 Habits by MrEricSir · 2013-12-19 16:07 · Score: 4, Funny

Sounds like it's time for Covey to come back to life and write "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Fictional Characters."

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Hmm... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-19 16:11 · Score: 4, Funny

Sci-Fi teaches us not to hire George Lucas... he's terrible.

Where is Matrix? by gmuslera · 2013-12-19 16:14 · Score: 1

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.

Re:Where is Matrix? by Opportunist · 2013-12-20 00:47 · Score: 1

Hmm... so the NSA will hire Al Quaida to hunt down Snowden?

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Re:What Sci-fi movies? by Badger+Nadgers · 2013-12-19 16:21 · Score: 1

Gantz? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantz_(live_action_films)

Nope... by KBehemoth · 2013-12-19 16:42 · Score: 2

Here are the real lessons of Sci-Fi movies.

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-12-19 17:03 · Score: 3, 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.

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Re:What Sci-fi movies? by ScottCooperDotNet · 2013-12-19 17:13 · 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.

Re:The project lessons I've learned from sf movies by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2013-12-19 17:22 · Score: 1

I was thinking more like Stargate SG-1.

<shrug> "Hey, it's what we do".

Didn't help my bosses by Tablizer · 2013-12-19 17:24 · Score: 1

"Never tell me the odds" and then plow through it like crazed cowboys

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Re:Didn't help my bosses by cusco · 2013-12-20 04:08 · Score: 1

'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.

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Re:What Sci-fi movies? by garyoa1 · 2013-12-19 17:25 · Score: 1

The only thing mentioned that's true sci-fi would be star trek. The others are either sci-fantasy or border on it.

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Ender's Game by phantomfive · 2013-12-19 17:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

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.

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"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."

Re:Ender's Game by Fear+the+Clam · 2013-12-19 23:54 · Score: 1

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.
Re:Ender's Game by phantomfive · 2013-12-20 05:21 · Score: 1

Many lessons can be learned. :)

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"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."

There is of course the number one rule by NotSoHeavyD3 · 2013-12-19 17:38 · Score: 1

Sarcasm on

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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Re:There is of course the number one rule by ArsonSmith · 2013-12-19 18:01 · Score: 1

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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Re:There is of course the number one rule by Opportunist · 2013-12-20 00:42 · Score: 1

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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Re:There is of course the number one rule by cusco · 2013-12-20 04:12 · Score: 1

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.

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Re:What Sci-fi movies? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-19 17:38 · Score: 1

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.

Every Large Project by Greyfox · 2013-12-19 18:06 · Score: 3, Insightful

Should have a prominent big red self destruct button. This button should not do anything, and it should be booby trapped.

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Re:What Sci-fi movies? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2013-12-19 18:14 · Score: 5, Funny

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.

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by sconeu · 2013-12-19 18:26 · Score: 1

Alien and Aliens say hello.

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Re:What Sci-fi movies? by WalksOnDirt · 2013-12-19 18:28 · Score: 1

What other sci-fi movies are there?

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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MLP: Management is Magic by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-19 18:40 · Score: 1

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.

Re:MLP: Management is Magic by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-19 18:45 · Score: 1

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.
Derp. I meant "Magical Mystery Cure" and not "Princess Twilight Sparkle" as the one about matrix management and exit strategies. Oops. My bad. I just don't know what went wrong.
I also forgot an episode:
Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000: It's not about cider, it's about beer, and it's not about beer, it's about the importance of QA and craftsmanship, rather than just shipping the MVP at the first available opportunity and let the customers deal with the bugs.

leadership lessons from unusual places by Jim+Hall · 2013-12-19 18:40 · Score: 1

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 :-)

Re:leadership lessons from unusual places by umghhh · 2013-12-19 22:22 · Score: 1

indeed with some brains you can get the ideas from any place. That is what actually makes out a good manager or group leader or what else they are called.
I even find some use in new buzzwords now and then as they refresh the focus and increase motivation. If you take them for what they are they are not even this annoying anymore. Gurus are annoying tho albeit there is an entertaining value there too. From all the gurus I find the ones mumbling about agile & water fall the most entertaining - I never know what the outcome of the proceeds would be. I laugh every time I see a workshop in which some management consultant is attempting to fix problems of others but cannot get around to organize own workshops in such a way as to make at least one person leave them with added value besides entertainment.
As for movies I liked Starship Troopers with their fascist social structure etc - you could see what properly done PR campaign can do and that sometimes throwing more people at it is just as good waste of resources as anything else :)

Re:No movies by VortexCortex · 2013-12-19 18:54 · Score: 2

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, 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 can help bring new ideas to the table...

Speaking of tables: Don't worry about the time table, if the engineer has to fix it before the deadline, they will find a way, even if it means working overtime: "I'm giving her all she can take captain!" Not to worry, they'll pull some engineering magic out out of thin air during the commercial break because this story arc is about to end.

Speaking of endings: How exactly does Neo see machines as orange colored lights? He didn't get a wireless upgrade, right? Programs escaping into the "real world"? Wait, he can kill sentenals wirelessly with his mind? Yep, instead of a green monochrome inspired world, he's trapped in an amber-screen level of the matrix. The Matrix shows you can always add another layer of indirection...

Look, it's a confirmation bias piece, it's just for fun.

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by flargleblarg · 2013-12-19 19:28 · Score: 1

Let's not forget:

Moon
Blade Runner
The Matrix
Inception
The Fifth Element
Gattaca
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by Gunboat_Diplomat · 2013-12-19 19:55 · Score: 1

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.

Re:Sy-Fy Channel by wiredlogic · 2013-12-19 20:12 · Score: 1

I think wrestling is perfectly cromulent for the Syfylis channel.

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Re:If you're learning business skills from movies by Sique · 2013-12-19 20:29 · Score: 1

If you can't learn anything from movies, you have bigger problems than lacking business skills.

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.sig: Sique *sigh*

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by hawkinspeter · 2013-12-19 20:44 · Score: 2

How about Primer?

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You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by Rhaban · 2013-12-19 21:07 · Score: 1

T2 is an action movie with a bit of sci-fi. Terminator is a sci-fi movie with action bits.

You forgot the best one of them all by bobstreo · 2013-12-19 22:53 · Score: 1

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.

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-19 23:43 · Score: 2, Informative

Gattaca

When it comes to sci-fi movies, you can't forget that little underappreciated masterpiece

Re:Gravity ? by FatLittleMonkey · 2013-12-19 23:50 · Score: 2

"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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Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by Megane · 2013-12-20 00:11 · Score: 1

I can name a couple: Jurassic Park III is a great BOFH story. And TRON is about corporate politics.

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Re:Gravity ? by paiute · 2013-12-20 00:13 · Score: 1

Make a wish, Billy.

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Re:No movies by rtb61 · 2013-12-20 00:17 · Score: 1

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 sharpens his axe and thus doesn't have to work near as hard and yet gets more work done).

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Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen

Re:What Sci-fi movies? by hawkinspeter · 2013-12-20 00:27 · Score: 1

Wish I could mod this up.

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You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe

The one lesson from Robocop: by Opportunist · 2013-12-20 00:39 · Score: 1

Do not let a private company take over what should be government's job.

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We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.

Re:The one lesson from Robocop: by PPH · 2013-12-20 04:37 · Score: 1

And District 9.

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Have gnu, will travel.

Re:These are not the Androids you were looking for by Opportunist · 2013-12-20 00:45 · Score: 1

So when is the US due?

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We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.

Re:Motivational Buffy by Opportunist · 2013-12-20 00:46 · Score: 1

Erh... boss, it might not be the best time for it, but here's my 2 weeks notice...

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We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.

Re:No movies by Opportunist · 2013-12-20 00:50 · Score: 1

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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We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.

The answer by wonkey_monkey · 2013-12-20 01:07 · Score: 1

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

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systemd is Roko's Basilisk.

Actually it's Bean. by Ecuador · 2013-12-20 01:21 · Score: 1

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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Re:Actually it's Bean. by phantomfive · 2013-12-20 05:19 · Score: 1

OK, I'll check it out

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Re:What Sci-fi movies? by TWiTfan · 2013-12-20 01:51 · Score: 1

So, it's true. Trolls really DO live in caves.