NASA PM Lessons (LLIS #1956)

Source

Jerry Madden, former Associate Director of Flight Projects, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center — aphorisms collected over 37 years, first published in ASK Magazine, October 2003. https://llis.nasa.gov/lesson/1956

The reference files below paraphrase the source in each category's own words rather than quoting it at length — treat them as a judgment aid, not a verbatim transcript. Consult the source URL for Madden's original phrasing and full elaboration.

Prerequisites

Only apply this skill when the situation actually matches one of the trigger scenarios below. If it doesn't, skip this skill entirely rather than forcing a fit.

When to Use

When Not to Use

• Don't quote more than one category, or more than 1-3 aphorisms, in a single response — pick what fits the specific situation
• Not a substitute for your project's own planning/ticketing structure — this skill adds judgment framing, not schema
• Regulatory, legal, or other decisions requiring a documented human sign-off are out of scope for this skill — those route to the responsible function regardless of what a Madden aphorism might suggest

Workflow

1. Identify which trigger scenario applies (table above)
2. Load only the matching references/*.md file
3. Pick the 1-3 aphorisms that actually fit the situation — state the point in a line, attribute it to Madden/LLIS #1956, then apply it to the concrete case at hand
4. Never present this as directive process or a checklist to satisfy — it's judgment support

Verification

Before treating a Madden aphorism as settled guidance for anything stakeholder-facing or regulated, wait for explicit confirmation from the responsible function (Legal, Compliance, or equivalent) whenever the topic touches a regulatory or externally-facing decision — this skill only produces internal judgment framing, never the final call.

cargo run -p pantheon-skill-auditor -- evaluate project-mgmt/nasa-pm-lessons --json --store

Result: a JSON score report across the 9-dimension framework — treat anything below a B grade as not yet production-ready.

Working with Superiors — LLIS #1956: "Never ask management to make a decision that you can make."
Applied: this status update is yours to send; don't route it through your manager first.

Result: one line, attributed, applied — not a dump of the whole category.

Troubleshooting

If the matched reference file is missing, or nothing in the matched category actually fits the situation, say so directly and skip the citation — forcing an aphorism where none fits is worse than citing none.

Mindset

• TYPICALLY, one well-chosen line beats five loosely relevant ones — brevity is the point, not exhaustiveness
• These are aphorisms, not procedures. ALWAYS use them to frame a judgment call, never to justify a decision already made
• PREFER citing zero aphorisms over forcing a citation that doesn't fit the specific situation
• In a production incident writeup, a single attributed line lands better than a wall of NASA trivia — treat over-citing as the gotcha to avoid, not a feature

Anti-Patterns

NEVER paste an entire category's list into a journal entry, ticket comment, or status update. WHY: it turns a judgment nudge into noise and defeats the point of category scoping — the main pitfall this skill guards against. BAD: "Per NASA LLIS #1956, here are the 20 planning lessons to consider..." GOOD: one line, attributed, applied to the specific decision in front of you.

NEVER treat this skill as authority for a stakeholder-facing regulatory, legal, or customer-dispute decision. WHY: those are decision-support domains requiring a documented human decision — an aphorism is not a substitute. BAD: citing Madden's "know your customer" aphorism as the basis for resolving a customer dispute. GOOD: use it for internal judgment framing only, and route anything regulator-facing to the correct function.

NEVER force a citation when nothing in the matched category actually fits the situation. WHY: a fabricated-fit aphorism reads as filler and erodes trust in the citations that are genuinely useful. BAD: stretching a "Working with Superiors" line to cover a pure design-engineering root cause just because that was the category loaded. GOOD: say plainly that nothing fits, skip the citation, and move on.

References