The document discusses lessons learned from the leadership and team structure depicted on the USS Enterprise from Star Trek. Some key points: - The Enterprise's bridge setup influenced later US Navy bridge designs due to its efficiency. Each role is represented and crew can directly communicate with the captain. - Running a website launch is like running the Enterprise, with a "war room" representing different functions like engineering, product, and communications. Not all staff need be present at once. - Successful leadership requires both logic and emotion, like Captain Kirk delegating tasks but also using instinct, working with the logical Spock to make balanced decisions. - The document aims to provide an alternative perspective on effective teamwork by drawing par

1. Learning from Captain Kirk,
Spock and Crew of the
Enterprise
Kit Chan

2. Crew of the Enterprise
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3. Bridge of the Enterprise
 US Navy designed their bridges after Enterprise due to its efficiency
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4. Bridge – Communication
 Inside the bridge, each person can communicate directly to the
captain
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5. Chain of Command
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 Each functional area (Navigation,
Communication, etc) is represented
on the Bridge by one person
› So is Engineering and Medical. But Scotty
and Bones are sometimes not on the
bridge and use internal communicator
panels to talk to Kirk directly
 Group of crew work behind the
scene to support the chief person on
the bridge for his/her role
› There are 428 crew members on the
Original Series Starship Enterprise, each
with his/her duties
› Not all on the bridge unless called upon

6. "Captain, we have visual."
 That’s actually Randy Pausch’s
line for his cameo appearance
in the 2009 movie
 All personnel on the bridge
should see the same thing at
the same time through the big
shared screen
 Data from personal console
can be put on big shared
screen as well
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7. How to fire a Photon Torpedo
 The ship is prebuilt to do something
› Like firing a photon torpedo or go in warp speed
 The execution is extremely efficient
› Everything is just an order away
› Trigger is on the bridge
› “On my command, fire!”
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8. Mr. Spock
 “It’s only logical” – Spock
 Who is he? Why is he onboard the Enterprise?
› First Officer/Chief Science Officer
› Smartest guy
› Second-in-Command
 He provides reasoning & logical perspective
 But he suppresses emotion
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9. Captain Kirk
 “Our logic is to be illogical” – Captain Kirk
 Who is he? Why is he the captain?
› Not smarter than Spock, or Scotty, or McCoy on their respective fields
 But he leads
› He delegates
› He inspires
› He establishes the vision, the tone.
 And he is emotional
› Often uses gut instinct
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10. Fascinating! But so what?
 Launching a site is a lot like running the Enterprise
 Our Tips
› You need a war room, arranged in such a way like a bridge (or a virtual war room,
using a conference “bridge”)
› You need to choose carefully who should be in the war room. All important functions
need to be properly represented. E.g. project lead/engineering manager (captain),
tech lead (first officer), FE/BE leads (engineering), PM (communication officer), SE
(pilot/navigator)
› You can’t have everybody in the war room at the same time all the time. You can
invite a person of interest into the war room occasionally but when the subject is no
longer of any immediate concern, the person should be excused from the war room.
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11. Tips Continued
› Each person in the war room will represent his/her area of expertise. He/she can
have separate discussions with his/her own groups but that should be happening
outside the war room.
› Everyone in the war room would share the same screen (e.g. through a projector or
a webex or adobe connect session)
› The launch (or any actions that are pre-defined for the site) should be highly
automated and can be triggered by the SE in the war room
› Project Lead (Kirk) and Tech Lead (Spock) needs to work together harmoniously and
make sure decision are made based on both technical considerations and human
factors.
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12. Who We Are?
 Yahoo! Custom Branded Experiences (CBE) team
 We have launched a few high profile projects/sites over the last
couple years
› Royal Wedding (04/29/2011)
› Clinton Foundation Concert (10/15/2011)
› Electric City (Premieres 07/17/2012)
 And we want to share our tips with you through a different
perspective! Hope you enjoy the talk!
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