Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - 3 ways a project manager could have saved the Empire from collapse

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In the third instalment of the Star Wars trilogy, the Empire reveals a cunning plan, setting a series of traps to snare Luke Skywalker and the rebels. Simultaneously, they dust off the blueprints for yet another colossal construction project - a second Death Star. This time, Emperor Palpatine takes a more hands-on approach in the role of Project Sponsor. Despite this governance makeover, the Death Star project is fraught with challenges. 

Whilst the Empire is occupied with the construction of the Death Star, the rebels’ re-group and hatch a plan to destroy the battlestation. Spoiler alert: both Emperor Palpatine and the Death Star meet their demise. Throughout the film, the Empire makes a series of critical project management mistakes. In this article I suggest three ways a project manager could have saved the Empire from collapse.

1. Reflect on experiences to learn lessons

Effective project management hinges on learning from past experiences. Considering the failure of the first Death Star - it’s surprising that the Empire decided to embark on the construction of yet another battlestation. Moreover, the new design includes another single point of failure - the main reactor. After the destruction of the first Death Star, the Empire should have undertaken a project post-mortem of equally colossal proportions to identify lessons learnt and to avoid a similar situation happening again. When managing projects, it’s important to identify and evaluate the success of comparable initiatives to inform planning. The Empire appeared to have learnt nothing from their previous project and embarked upon a project of equal scale and complexity without resolving root cause issues such as the main reactor.

2. Ensure accurate project estimating

At the beginning of the film, it becomes clear that construction on the new Death Star is behind schedule. A member of Lord Vader’s project team complains that the Emperor is asking for the impossible when it comes to the schedule. Considering the Empire’s track record of catastrophic project management, it’s unlikely that a robust approach was taken to estimating the work required to build the battlestation. I suspect that the project estimating was wildly over-optimistic to appease senior leaders. This estimating oversight is unforgivable since the Empire has constructed a similar Death Star before and so should have significant comparable data to make accurate estimates. The project team agrees to double their efforts to mitigate schedule slippage but increasing effort two-fold without additional workers is likely to cause burnout and stress for the Empire’s stormtroopers. The Empire should have taken a more robust approach to estimating, drawing on the experience of constructing the first Death Star. When it comes to your projects, consider reference data and your organisation's past performance of delivering projects to generate accurate estimates and apply optimism bias accordingly.

3. Build relationships on trust

Trust is the currency of strong relationships - a lesson Emperor Palapatine learns the hard way. The Emperor's trap to lure in Luke Skywalker is successful but as Palpatine tortures Luke with force lighting, Darth Vader intervenes to throw the Emperor down a reactor shaft. This heroic betrayal highlights the shaky relationship on which Emperor Palpatine forged with his stakeholders. The Emperor trusts Darth Vader’s loyalty which turns out to be as robust as a stormtrooper’s aim. The Emperor’s confidence in Darth Vader’s loyalty was wildly overestimated - he should have dispatched Luke Skywalker without his father present. Strong stakeholder relationships are key to project success and trust is a core component of these. Trust rests on open, honest and authentic conversations.

With the death of Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the second Death Star, the Empire crumbles. Throughout the trilogy, the Empire demonstrates a woeful approach to project management as it flounders through a series of catastrophic projects. If you’re planning to build a Death Star, consider taking a project management training course first!