Should Darth Vader Receive An Honorary PMP®?

 

Yeah, I know PMI® would just assume that only people of good character and are willing to abide by its code of ethics should receive the Project Management Professional certification, but hear me out on this. While Vader’s appearance, sounds from his labored breathing, and expertise with a light saber are all captivating aspects of the character, when we actually look past these visually amazing distractions we are presented with direct knowledge of his “scope” in each of the three original movies in the initial trilogy:

• Star Wars (later re-titled A New Hope) – retrieve the stolen plans to the first Death Star.
• The Empire Strikes Back – capture the Millennium Falcon, with its crew and passengers alive.
• The Return of the Jedi – capture Luke Skywalker, and deliver him to Emperor Palpatine.

In previous blogs I have made the distinction between Project Management, Asset Management, and Strategic Management, so:

• Asset Managers seek to “maximize shareholder wealth,” and their primary information source is the general ledger.
• Project Managers seek to execute their defined scope and accomplish it under the customer-driven parameters of cost and schedule. Earned Value and Critical Path Methodologies drive their information streams.
• Strategic Managers seek to maximize market share in whichever industry their organizations belong.

It seems to me that, in virtually every line of dialogue emanating from Darth Vader, he clearly places himself into the PM bin. For example, when he boards Princess Leia’s starship and is informed that the plans to the Death Star – which he knows have been transmitted to the ship – aren’t on board, he immediately surmises that the plans must have been put into one of the escape pods that had been ejected during or immediately after the battle. What would each of the management types have said at this point?

1. “Perform an evaluation of the Return on Investment for the effort of sending an entire battalion of the Empire’s best men to locate one specific escape pod. If the analysis returns a number greater than one, go ahead and do it. Otherwise, it won’t be worth it.”
2. “She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod. Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally, Commander.”
3. “I’m just not seeing how retrieving those plans will translate into more star systems joining our Empire.”

Before you write down your selection’s number, consider which response is most closely aligned with the scope statements for each movie from the first bulleted list, and then proceed to mental exercise number two.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Vader is determined to capture Han Solo’s ship, the Millennium Falcon, along with its passengers and crew. When the fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers – rather large, ponderous ships – find her, she escapes into an asteroid field. Newly-minted Admiral Piett informs Vader that the fleet dare not follow the far more nimble Millennium Falcon into the asteroid field, due to the excessive damage they can expect to endure. Again, which statement is most closely aligned with the Project Management approach?

1. “Thank you for that insight, Admiral. Our people are our greatest asset. Could I trouble you to perform another cost-impact analysis of having the fleet enter the asteroid field?”
2. “Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral. I want that ship, not excuses.”
3. “I’m sure the Emperor wouldn’t want to risk half the fleet in an endeavor that won’t add to the number of star systems under his purview.”

Write down your answer, and proceed to mental exercise number three.

In Return of the Jedi, Vader receives a prophecy from Emperor Palpatine himself, that (spoiler alert!) Vader’s son, Luke Skywalker, will seek Vader out, somewhat undermining Vader’s proposed scope of tracking down and capturing Luke himself. Nevertheless, Vader begins to search for Luke and, just as Palpatine had foretold, is surprised when Luke surrenders himself on the forest moon of Endor. Vader takes possession of Luke’s lightsaber, and, after ordering the guards to leave them alone, has a conversation with Luke where Luke urges Vader to abandon the dark side, and join the Rebellion. Again, which response is most consistent with a PM approach?

1. “After all of the assets we’ve spent leading up to my presenting you, captive, to the Emperor, based on the invalidity of the Sunk Cost fallacy, I’m going to let you go now.”
2. “You don’t know the power of the dark side. I must complete my scope obey my master.”
3. “Yeah, I’m still not getting how this is going to add to the star system total. Is it happy hour yet?”

Since GTIM Nation is known for its management acumen, I’m going to go ahead and predict that everybody’s answers are all twos, proving that Darth Vader was clearly PMP® material.

He may have even ended up writing a blog for ProjectManagement.com, under the pen name “Michael.”