The Martian gets my vote for organisation design lessons of the year. Have you seen it? If not get yourself to the cinema. I read a review of it on Friday and was instantly intrigued. First, because NASA got behind it and I wondered why. Second because the science in it is all credible thanks to Weir's (the author) fact checkers – I like things to be plausible. The story of how he wrote the story is, itself an organisation design story – by posting chapters as blog pieces and then refining them. Third because it's about one man's method of staying alive by solving first one problem and then the next problem – yes, he had plans but he couldn't predict the next problem he'd have to solve.
It sounded like a don't miss and I'm really glad I didn't. It's not just about Mark Watney (Matt Damon) and how he survived. It's a whole brilliant case study in organisation design. You have the public facing glossy brochure which paints a glowing picture of the Ares 3 mission. Then you see at many points in the film Annie Montrose (Kristen Wiig) the media relations person desperately trying to find a good spin to put on things as they start to unravel (and to keep the unravelling out of the public eye).