Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains. Err... Project Managers.

You find good hints in the most unlikely of places.

For the record, I'm a bit of a Sci-Fi buff. No, not that kind, the good kind! HONEST! (Actually, it's worse, I like Hard Sci-fi and Military Sci-Fi, with a dash of Space Opera...)

Anyway. Embarrassing confession for the day - done. The folks over at io9 (a Gawker Media Sci-Fi themed blog) came up with a list of "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains".

Right, so it's a bit tongue-in-cheek to apply this to Project Management, but hey, read them yourself. (I stripped them of the Sci-Fi comparisons, but if you're really interested, click on the link above to read the whole text):

1. Rules are made to be broken.
2. Show your crew that you're willing to take a bullet for them, and they'll do the same for you.
3. A good leader has to get laid once in a while, and she shouldn't be ashamed of it.
4. True leaders do not ever make decisions alone.
5. It's not the tools; it's what you do with them.
6. A little subversion goes a long way.
7. No matter how in control you are, always be ready for something for which you're completely unprepared.

Now... Don't take them all completely seriously - use your judgment, man! (or woman, we're not sexist here)...

I like 1, 2, 4 and 7. How about you?

[Annalee Newitz at io9]