PRojects IN Controlled Environments, version Sith
November 26, 2022 5:18 AM   Subscribe

The overworked project manager on the redesign of the Imperial Lambda-class shuttle gets surprisingly competent feedback from an unknown official on Coruscant. She promptly decides that anyone bored enough to do a technical review of their own free will should be found proper employment for their own good. (AO3, Beth Winter, Star Wars, Gen) - because project management in any galaxy goes darkside.
posted by dorothyisunderwood (14 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love recommendations for fanfiction! Thanks for posting this, will read it later.
posted by CompanionCube at 7:26 AM on November 26, 2022


I will not mention the name, but the author it turns out is a mefite :-) The venn diagram for AO3 and metafilter is probably considerable.

I have been applying for tech project management jobs all evening and contemplating my own sprawling current project waiting on Monday, and this made me part an ancient Imperial tradition.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:45 AM on November 26, 2022 [2 favorites]


I could really use more good slightly-cozy fics right now, if you’ve got other recommendations…
posted by sixswitch at 8:46 AM on November 26, 2022


This was delightful. Thank you!
posted by madhadron at 9:04 AM on November 26, 2022


This was great! Also keen on further recommendations.
posted by bjrubble at 10:07 AM on November 26, 2022


Loved this!
posted by Wretch729 at 11:05 AM on November 26, 2022


Fantastic! (The POV character is right, that guy does need something constructive to do.)
posted by mersen at 2:53 PM on November 26, 2022


>It took on average fifty people to design a new model up to approval of prototype production

This made me do a double take, because I work in automotive project management and... we design a pickup truck, it takes about 2,000 engineers two years to get it from concept to prototype, and another year to fix the problems uncovered through prototyping through to mass production. I deal with issues down to debating with the supplier over how many stillages we need to handle operations given the round trip between their site and a factory in rural Africa, up to creatively massaging the global level profit modelling to produce a believable rate of return over the 7-10 years project life for the directors. And in between, interrogating why minor and simple design fixes seem to cost millions of dollars (it's never simple) and lamenting at the sheer difficulty and expense of manufacturing anything in India, Africa of South America (there's damn good reason why your smartphones are manufactured in China or Vietnam instead)

Now I'd like to read more about PRINCE2 applied to Kuat Drive Yards...

(Maybe I should write it)
posted by xdvesper at 8:10 PM on November 26, 2022 [1 favorite]


Random gen recs that are comforting(ish):

Athosian For Beginners (11165 words) by trinityofone
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Teyla Emmagan/Rodney McKay
Characters: Teyla Emmagan, Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Elizabeth Weir, Radek Zelenka, Halling (Stargate), Jinto (Stargate Atlantis)
Additional Tags: Languages and Linguistics, Alien Cultural Differences, Language Barrier, Communication
Summary: She knew what was happening, but it was impossible. Like suddenly knowing, The sun won't rise in the morning. Gravity doesn't work. The Wraith don't mean any harm...
My Master's Secret Mission (4283 words) by David Hines
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: I Dream of Jeannie
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Jeannie, Major Anthony Nelson, Major Roger Healey, Colonel Bellows
Summary: I am THE LUCKIEST GENIE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!My Master has given me a DIARY! He says that now I can write down things that happened, so I will be able to remember them!I said, but Master, my memory is perfect, genies always remember everything! and my Master said, what about the time Major Healey and I thought your sister might be impersonating you, and we asked you what we had done just the night before, and you didn't remember? and I shrugged, and then he said, and what about all the times I told you to stay home, and you didn't remember I said that? and I shrugged, and then he said, and what about all the times I told you to not use your powers because that only Makes Things Worse, and you didn't remember I said THAT? and I said, but Master, if genies were predictable, we would not be genies! and Major Healey said, ain't that the truth.I am SO GLAD that Major Healey understands me.
Damp Dames Distributing Daggers (1371 words) by Blurble
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dennis (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), Constitutional Peasant Woman (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
Additional Tags: Humor, Nonconsensual sword distribution, Anarcho-syndicalist commune committees, Arthurian Elements, Yuletide Treat
Summary: “It is your destiny, which cannot be escaped,” the lady intoned.
“Watch me,” Dennis said, and escaped.
narrative context (7319 words) by Lilith
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Asshole Research Transport & Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries)
Characters: Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), Asshole Research Transport (Murderbot Diaries), Amena (Murderbot Diaries), Iris (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Gurathin (Murderbot Diaries)
Additional Tags: The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon (Murderbot Diaries), no feelings only media, in-universe media, POV Alternating
Series: Part 13 of Yuletide
Summary: "It gave me context for the emotions I was feeling, I managed not to say." -Exit Strategy
A Meowy Christmas (4097 words) by MFLuder
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cat Goddess/Woman Who Cares For Stray Cats (F/F)
Additional Tags: Christmas Fluff, Pets, Holidays, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Romance, First Kiss
Summary: Janelle, a small accounts manager who volunteers at her local animal rescue, meets a new volunteer who has a certain way with cats. Sparks fly, especially when they find a kitten in need.
Perennial (1764 words) by avani
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Mary Lennox (The Secret Garden), Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Racebending
Summary: When Mridula came to serve the Lennoxes, she was not in the least disagreeable-looking. She could not afford to be.(Mary's parents survive the cholera epidemic and stay in India. This does not mean that the garden, or its magic, is done with her.)
The Quiet Rebellion of Tardigrade Sela Writings (1100 words) by Edonohana
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Author of the Acacia Seeds - Ursula K. Le Guin, LE GUIN Ursula K. - Works
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Original Tardigrades
Additional Tags: Metafiction, Don't Have to Know Canon, Tardigrades, Documentation, Worldbuilding, In-Universe Article
Summary: You are no doubt familiar with the major genres of tardigrade literature.
Exclusive Content (3964 words) by ellen_fremedon
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sesame Street (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Cookie Monster, Count Von Count, Grover (Sesame Street), Prairie Dawn, Don Music, Biff (Sesame Street), Sully (Sesame Street), Herry Monster (Sesame Street)
Additional Tags: backstage drama, issues of representation, muppet identity politics, literary adapations, kind of a lot of annotations, Yuletide, Yuletide 2015
Summary: In old days, Cookie think, just having monsters on television was spooky. Monsters doing classy drama was transgressive. Transgressive mean it a thing that people not expect you to do, and they think you strange when you do it. It special kind of surprise.
So We Meet at Last (758 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie, Dracula & Related Fandoms, Dracula (TV 1968)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jane Marple, Count Dracula, Abraham Van Helsing, John Seward
Additional Tags: Community: fan_flashworks, Crossover, Women Being Awesome, miss marple is awesome, The Author Regrets Nothing, Alternate Universe
Summary: Two genre legends meet. The outcome is inevitable. Someone really should have warned the Count never to trifle with fluffy old ladies.
Fairies Aren't Gentlemen (12166 words) by AMarguerite
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: Jeeves & Wooster, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Reginald Jeeves/Bertram Wooster
Characters: Reginald Jeeves, Bertram Wooster, Bobbie Wickham, Stephanie "Stiffy" Byng, Daphne Braithwaite, Stephen Black, Emma Pole, The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair, Dahlia Travers
Additional Tags: Crossover, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Gratuitous Oscar Wilde References, Fae & Fairies, 1920s
Summary: Or, "The Other Club Book." Bertie Wooster accidentally attends a party hosted by the Chappie with Thistledown Hair in the Faerie kingdom of Lost-Hope, and finds it dashed difficult to get out of another invitation. How can Jeeves possibly get him out of the soup when Bertie can't describe his rummy circs?
Short Street to Kicklebury (1628 words) by notbecauseofvictories
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sybil Ramkin/Samuel Vimes
Characters: Samuel Vimes, Sybil Ramkin, Havelock Vetinari
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Genderbending
Summary: There was an Understanding.The Understanding was: Her Grace, Lady Sybil Deidre Olgivanna Ramkin, had, on the twelfth of May, married Captain Samantha Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork Watch. It was a very lovely ceremony. There had been cake.
Bravura (4465 words) by Syrena_of_the_lake
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lucy Pevensie
Additional Tags: Spare Oom, Golden Age (Narnia), Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies
Summary: Perhaps things never happen the same way twice, but some stories echo through the ages.
Add 1 Cup Boiling Water; Stir (8067 words) by sentientcitizen, The_Lobster
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Finn (Star Wars), Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron, Jessika Pava, Leia Organa
Additional Tags: Food, Cooking, polystarch
Summary: Feral Desert Child and Former Stormtrooper Learn How To Food, Beleaguered Resistance Pilot Watches With Love And Horror
Parts Unknown: Bajor (7573 words) by fresne
Chapters: 11/11
Fandom: Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown RPF, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Anthony Bourdain, Benjamin Sisko, Jake Sisko, Jadzia Dax
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Yuletide, Yuletide 2018, references to past violence
Series: Part 1 of Without Borders: Federation
Summary: In the season eight premiere, Tony pays a visit to Deep Space Nine and Bajor.
Golden Dragons (1323 words) by epeeblade
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Golden Girls
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dorothy Zbornak, Sophia Petrillo, Blanche Devereaux, Rose Nylund
Additional Tags: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Summary: When Dorothy's student lends her his Dungeons and Dragons materials, things get a bit out of hand.
Wizards in Winter (2440 words) by vibishan
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Calvin & Hobbes, Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes), Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes)
Summary: The advertisement is a spiky red impact bubble on the back of his box of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. Mail in just five box tops for your very own HOW TO BE A WIZARD KIT* .
these little powerless bones (841 words) by dirgewithoutmusic
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Additional Tags: a squib in hogwarts, What-If
Summary: littlebastardreviews posted the collected facts from the 2014 UK Editions of Harry Potter: and this fact caught my eye.'Only one non-magical person has ever managed to get as far as the Hogwarts Sorting Hat before being exposed as a Squib.' But, gosh it just makes me want a story where a squib did make it through. So here's a drabble about a squib with a quick mind and a hand-me-down wand, who refuses to be denied her birthright.--when the hat drops over her eyes it asks, 'well what do we have here?'she’s got a forged hogwarts letter with penmanship that’s perfect down to the ink splatter; she’s got a complicated string of owls, only half of them forged, from parents to administration to ministry that’s so complicated her name ended up on the first year roll call anyway. she’s got ten arguments, four pleas, and one smothered threat on the tip of her mental tongue for why the house that comes out of this hat’s brim better not be 'squib'she’s got a lighter up her sleeve and an eight and a half inch wand in her belt that will never, ever work for her. 'well,' says the hat, 'better be slytherin then'
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 9:01 PM on November 26, 2022 [2 favorites]


I can't say that Star Wars is a fandom I have any interest in whatsoever, but even with that note, I still enjoyed the story. I like these kind of bureaucratic pieces, and identity reveals are always fun. Very nice job Beth Winter.
posted by sardonyx at 10:12 PM on November 26, 2022


dorothyisunderwood well thank you so much for ensuring my supply, what a treat! ❤️
posted by sixswitch at 5:10 AM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]


A great (non-sexy) take on Bucky’s time in Russia, from the same writer: White Star, Winter Orbit
posted by sixswitch at 6:47 AM on November 27, 2022


For those who always thought Fanny Price deserved better: The Shining Air by Vanzetti, a crossover between Mansfield Park and Master and Commander.

A day in the life of Bishop Beartongue, from T. Kingfisher's novels of the White Rat: As Seen on Bishop Beartongue's Desk.

Oxford University Temporal Site Record, by partypaprika, being the administrative paperwork associated with the return of Kivrin to modern times after the events of The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

Slave, Hero, Martyr: Some Notes Towards a Biography of Anakin Skywalker by Countess of Biscuit, an examination of the problems of historiography in the post-Imperial era.

A Lovely Little Normal Life by Mothmage, which provides Petunia Evans (aka Harry Potter's horrible Aunt Petunia) some redemption.
posted by suelac at 8:22 AM on November 27, 2022


This was a great distraction. It’s bedtime here and it’s not going brilliant.
posted by zenon at 7:50 PM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]


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