Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains - io9 Comments

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

dannielo — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:51:37 PDT

For implementing GTD you might try out this web-based application:

[www.gtdagenda.com]

You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
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Hope you like it.

dannielo

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

blissamerica — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:25:26 PST

han solo may have run way too close the the maw to shave a few parsecs off the kessle run, but adama frigging jumped a battlestar INTO FREE FALL in New Capricas atmosphere to blind side the cylons.

Balls Of Steel.

blissamerica

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

inconstant_reader — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:38:50 PST

Sorry for the double post. I fail.

Of course, one of the rules of life is that when you are pointing out someone else's stupid mistake, you'll make an idiotic error of your own.

inconstant_reader

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

inconstant_reader — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:37:11 PST

Re the Kessel run: Fanwank it all you want, the fact is Lucas made a stupid mistake.

inconstant_reader

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

inconstant_reader — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:35:53 PST

Re the Kessel run: Fanwank it all you want, the fact is Lucas made a really dumb mistake.

inconstant_reader

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Jeff-Minor — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:41:58 PST

I'm a space captain, in my own little mind. And my ship, the Inconsistent Morality, kicks ass.

Jeff-Minor

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Teaflax — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:23:13 PST

"being pursuit"? PURSUIT?

Being a priggish type, that's where I stopped reading.

Teaflax

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Michaelwon — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:02:34 PST

I wanna be a space captain!! Where do I sign UP??

Michaelwon

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

JustThisGuyYouKnow? — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:14:13 PST

Hmm.There is wisdom in your wisdom, one-they-call-Slatz-Grobnik. And I was always rather fond of the Rimmer Directives such as 'Never tangle with anything that has more teeth than the entire Osmond family'.

JustThisGuyYouKnow?

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Slatz_Grobnik — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:20:27 PST

@HomoSapiensRex: No, there's a good lesson to be had from Rimmer (and not the obvious "always have someone else to blame"), probably as regards his schism from Ace Rimmer. Something about adversity and parallel universes.

Well, that or even the most worthless person on your team is a hero in some other dimension.

Slatz_Grobnik

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

erokv — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:18:04 PST

the kessel run has to do with going from point A to point B with a cluster of black holes directly between the two. the shorter your distance traveled, the crazier you were because you had to go closer to the black holes. duh.

erokv

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Xerloq — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:03:26 PST

@Grele_Mokit: Reference, please.

Xerloq

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Xerloq — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:02:18 PST

@Garrison Dean: My beat up Ford can do the Tiajuana run in less than 15 miles...

Xerloq

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

ARLC — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:26:59 PST

For FRAKS sakes people! It's R-O-S-L-I-N. An "I" for INIMITABLE. Don't forget it.

ARLC

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Nemo Fairbrother — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:41:44 PST

How about learning something from Ender Wiggin - If I learned anything from Ender its about testing your limits and endurance. He's one tough hombre.

Nemo Fairbrother

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

jbq — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:10:31 PST

@Jeff-Minor: "Ah, yes. Comets, the icebergs of the sky. By jackknifing off one after another at breakneck speed, we can create a gravity boost, or something."

jbq

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

E0157H7 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:50:42 PST

In the immortal words of Zap:
"There's a problem, sir."
"Come back when it's a catastrophe."

E0157H7

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Spaceboy — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:17:32 PST

Lesson 8: Take your shirt off once in a while.
Especially if you are a woman and not Captain Kirk.

Spaceboy

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Xanthur — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:24:44 PST

@gothfae: Ivanova is so badass. It makes me hot.

Xanthur

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

imajoebob — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:07:02 PST

Ignoring the obvious inanity of this whole exercise - debating the merits of dweeb sci-fi characters ("Worf could kick Chewbacca's ass!"), this post is WAY off base.

Real ship Captains have one reality in common that these characters always, by necessity of entertaining, ignore. A real captain's does pretty close to nothing. Well, nothing in terms of actively participating in the normal operation of the ship.

A captain is the ultimate delegator. His/Her job is strategic. He creates the plan, he sets the goals, he establishes the rules. Then he tells his officers to get it done, who then tell their subordinates to get it done. The Captain communicates the mission. The First Officer makes sure it gets done. The Chief of Operations implements the plan.

Perhaps the most important part of a ship's culture is military discipline. Everyone has a job to do, and they do it. No one else. It's the captain's job to give the orders, not execute them.

One of the most difficult exercises I ever did took place in a Coast Guard simulator. I was in charge of the bridge. My job was to tell everyone else what to do. Heading, speed, check course and location, who/what/when to radio communications. It was a killer. I had to make sure I made every clear, and then stand there let the crew do their job. The natural urge is to do things yourself, but I couldn't do anything except ask questions and give orders. A captain's job is two levels higher than that.

Simplified, the captain is the CEO. The CEO doesn't type memos. he doesn't crunch data. He doesn't make ad buys. He really doesn't do anything except make (grand) strategic decisions, and communicate it to the people responsible.

And if he gets caught making out with some blue-skinned alien the board will get rid of him.

imajoebob

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Thieu — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:49:42 PST

@annalee:
These are the four I can think of from the Robotech series:
Listen to your subordinates ideas.
When all else fails, improvise.
Don't be afraid to take big risks.
When you can't beat your enemy, try subverting them to your side.

Thieu

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Monsterdog — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:44:47 PST

@Jeff-Minor: Bad news, the Cray supercomputer isn't so super anymore, your PS3 can pretty much outwit it.

Monsterdog

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

atm0sfere — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:31:49 PST

@gothfae: "Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova. Commander. Daughter of Andrei and Sophie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance, and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart! I am death incarnate, and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me."

Thank you! What a wonderful Ivanova quote. It has made my week! :)

atm0sfere

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Jeff-Minor — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:17:46 PST

My fav captain has to be Zap Branigan, while in charge of the Titanic. Pefect sense of responsibility.

Jeff-Minor

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

gothfae — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:05:48 PST

While not full-time captains, Delenn and Ivanova in B5 proved the intimidating speech could do just as much damage as a battery of guns.

"This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw or be destroyed."
"Negative. We have authorite here. Do not force us to engage your ship."
"Why not? Only one Human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"

"Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova. Commander. Daughter of Andrei and Sophie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance, and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart! I am death incarnate, and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me."

gothfae

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

DanYHKim — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:02:05 PST

Re #6: Freedom fighters make good teammates

I think the subtitle should be more like: Defeat your enemies by making them allies (Is this something from Sun Tsu?)

I've always liked Janeway. She's no-nonsense, and knows how to delegate things that she doesn't have to keep a direct hand in. Kirk spent too much time on-planet (the better to meet the exotic ladies, I suppose), which showed a lack of confidence in Spock and McCoy.

Now that I think of it, he was probably well justified.

DanYHKim

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Mecharine — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:59:16 PST

Well the lesson for Robotech is : If the odds are against you, load everything up with Reflex missiles and warheads, and ram into the largest enemy ship. Then blow everything up.

Mecharine

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Angryrider — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:43:40 PST

My rule, obey your orders or face the Bright Slap!

Angryrider

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

IchabodCrane — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:11:26 PST

Lesson number 8
Do your job no matter what it is and adventure and praise will follow. Well, adventure anyway...
Captian Adam Quark,
United Galaxies Sanitation Patrol Cruiser

IchabodCrane

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Jeff-Minor — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:07:32 PST

"Out of Context Problem" (OCP), or what I call a Potential. Annalee, if you were (maybe you are)a sf writer, what would you call it? I'm always looking for nominclature that I can use. But one wants to be somewhat original from time to time. It's hard. I've given up to some extent. I mean, what can you call FTL travel that hasn't been used before? (the answer is not Virgin FTL)

Jeff-Minor

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

rockstarlibrarian — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:05:20 PST

The tag "GTD in Space" completely rocks my world.

rockstarlibrarian

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

dancinbojangles — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:53:47 PST

My favorite spaceship captain was Henry J Gloval from Macross (though I watched the English version as a kid). His mustache was twice as cool as Adama's symbolic caterpillar, and the superfriends-style narrator that described his every action trumps trumps Morgan Freeman in my mind as an archetype of masculinity.

dancinbojangles

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Pope John Peeps II — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:37:36 PST

I think the best lesson is Mal Reynolds' "love keeps her in the air, love makes her a home".

That, plus:

"Why'd you come back for me?"
"You're on my crew."
"Yah. But you don't even like me."
"You're ON my CREW. Why are we still talking about this?"

Pope John Peeps II

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

bhp — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:26:02 PST

@Spiral: Funny you mention this line. I've been rereading Dune and just read this particular line last night.

bhp

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

braak — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:05:46 PST

@Annalee Newitz: I just read that one the other day.

"Out of Context Problem" is my new favorite descriptor.

braak

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Jeff-Minor — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:36:58 PST

The Sleeper Service, in Excession, is a Mind, not an AI. An AI is to a Mind what a 20th century Earthakin calculator is to a Cray super computer.

Jeff-Minor

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

TheN — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:05:30 PST

Just want to say this is the best post title in the history of the Internet.

TheN

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

E0157H7 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:00:53 PST

Another good one from Star Wars: Do not put your ship in the pot when gambling. It doesn't matter how good you are, it's stupid. Seems like that one should go without saying. As for the parsecs, I think that the idea was that he shaved distance off of the run by going dangerously close to The Maw. That allowed him to make the time that he did because he was basically going full-throttle the entire time. That's why the distance was noteworthy.

E0157H7

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

cde — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:40:07 PST

@njudahchronicles: ... As a loyal supporter of the Cthulhu '08 Campaign, I must now eat your skin while boiling your brains in a broth of your own blood seasoned in cinnamon.

cde

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

cde — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:38:49 PST

7 reminds me of that one Outer Limits episode where the ships are sentient, and they mate humans so as to keep a single repair man/woman around like a slave.
Lesson Learned (from many shows), Humans will always fuck your shit up for love/sex.

cde

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

njudah — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:35:42 PST

hey let's get some Space GTD in the white house - support Adama in '08"

[www.adamaforpresident.org]

njudah

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Dybbuk — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:49:17 PST

Darth Vader was able to inspire troops to 'stay the course' on the death star.

Dybbuk

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Mr Meh — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:32:35 PST

@horseloverfat: awesome Valis reference.

Mr Meh

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Grele_Mokit — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:29:33 PST

@B1663R: To make the Kessel Run you have to fly dangerously close to The Maw, a cluster of black holes, and try not to get pulled out of hyperspace by (or sucked into) their gravity wells. The closer a ship is able to fly, the shorter the distance it travels.

Grele_Mokit

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:44:34 PST

@B1663R: Yay Robotech captain! Definitely not trying to ignore anime -- just don't remember the show well enough to draw a lesson from it.

Annalee Newitz

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Counterglow — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:45:39 PST

If people want you to lead, do it. You might believe you aren't a leader, buy you're not always the best judge that.

And yes, you DO have to make decisions alone. By all means seek advice and try to build consensus, but final decision is yours.

Counterglow

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

B1663R — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:12:49 PST

@danger_the_pirate: so han solo managed to shorten the actual distance of two points or was Lucas an idiot?

B1663R

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

B1663R — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:11:39 PST

I see we're totally ignoring Robotech because it's a cartoon.

name one other captain that can stair down 4 million ships loaded with 50 foot tall blood thirsty all the while keeping a city of 80,000 from going insane. by the way did i mention that his ship was crippled?

B1663R

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

stokely — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:53:36 PST

Another lesson from Firefly - even if your project gets cancelled (*sob*) if it's great code your users will stick with you. *g*

*waves hello from Lifehacker Australia edition*

stokely

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

danger the pirate — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:48:24 PST

@Garrison Dean:
funny thing about a parsec: its a unit of distance, not time. 3.262 Light years...

danger the pirate

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

oldandintheway — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:45:59 PST

Where else would you find folks discussing the weaknesses of a MOVIE space ship...sigh

oldandintheway

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

RobDLG — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:31:50 PST

Unashamed?

"Nice try, Leela, but we've all seen Zapp Brannigan's webpage."

RobDLG

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

egosub2 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:51:07 PST

@ Garrison Dean
She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts.

egosub2

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

extracrispy — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:27:13 PST

The headline for this post makes me giggle.

extracrispy

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Ken Keegan — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:19:09 PST

Thanks for not dissing Janeway like everyone else. Sure, she went on a few too many away missions herself, but she was still a really good captain for not having a penis.

Ken Keegan

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:09:53 PST

@Spiral: Sure, but is it a model that started out really excellent? My impression was that Han had modded it from a rather bland model.

Annalee Newitz

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Garrison Dean, Mr. Privilege — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:07:05 PST

@Annalee Newitz: Thats a little better. Solo has a lot on his plate, what with avoiding imperial entaglements, Jabba, the bounty on his head, romancing princesses, shooting Greedo first... sorry if the guy can't run by Watto's for a tune up. And really don't apologize to me... Chewey is the one who'll rip your arms off if you offend him.

Garrison Dean, Mr. Privilege

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

JustThisGuyYouKnow? — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:06:39 PST

And why, pray tell, is Arnold Judas Rimmer, nominal commander of starship Red Dwarf (even if he is in fact dead)not mentioned? For shame! We all have many things to learn from him, such as ...er....um...ah...

JustThisGuyYouKnow?

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Master Aramil — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:59:34 PST

@Garrison Dean: ]
It wasn't just called a souped up bucket!
The falcon is the YT-1300 of my dreams!

Master Aramil

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:57:07 PST

@Garrison Dean: Ha! It's a beautiful bucket that is super awesome, OK? Just like my beatup old laptop running Linux is lovely.

Annalee Newitz

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:56:11 PST

@the-happy-manager: Oh, good point! Actually, I think taking the red pill is a sign of a good leader -- wanting to see reality rather than the illusion.

Annalee Newitz

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Spiral — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:54:17 PST

@Garrison Dean: I agree. It's not really a "souped-up bucket" as much as an old hotrod in need of repair. Used to be the top of the line, still pretty good, but needs more maintenance and love than you have money to put into right now.

Spiral

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

the-happy-manager — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:53:49 PST

What about Morpheus in the Matrix, or doesn't "inner" space count? I'd follow a leader who asked the right questions, or encouraged me to do the same. Not sure about that whole red/blue pill thing though....

[www.the-happy-manager.com]

the-happy-manager

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Garrison Dean, Mr. Privilege — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:50:22 PST

Whoah whoah whoah... badmouthing the Falcon? A ship that did the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs? A Bucket? Not cool.

Garrison Dean, Mr. Privilege

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Spiral — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:50:05 PST

Though a different point, the lesson in #7 reminds me of a Frank Herbert quote:
"Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic."

Spiral

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:48:07 PST

@horseloverfat: I love Excession. One of the best Culture novels.

Annalee Newitz

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

Horselover Fat — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:44:57 PST

Awesome Culture reference!

Horselover Fat