# Nasa Pm Lessons > Surface a matched excerpt from Jerry Madden's NASA project-management aphorisms (LLIS #1956) at the moment it fits: incident root-cause sections; ticket refinement; plan drafting; status updates; escalation calls. Loads only one category at a time — never the full list, never more than three aphorisms per response. DO NOT use this for regulatory, legal, or prize-dispute decisions; route those to Legal/Compliance/DPO. Triggers: 'root cause', 'refine this ticket', 'draft a plan', 'status update', 'should I escalate', 'stakeholder comms'. - Skill: `pantheon-org/nasa-pm-lessons` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 27 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add pantheon-org/nasa-pm-lessons` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/pantheon-org/nasa-pm-lessons/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Product & Planning - Author: pantheon-org (https://skillmd.com/u/pantheon-org) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/pantheon-org/nasa-pm-lessons --- # 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. 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 | Scenario | Load | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | Root cause / incident writeup (journal troubleshooting entries) | `references/design-engineering.md` | | Ticket refinement, implementation plan drafting, wave planning | `references/planning-and-decisions.md` | | Status comment to management, escalation call | `references/working-with-superiors.md` | | Stakeholder comms, incident status to non-engineers, vendor/partner comms | `references/customer-stakeholder-relations.md` | | Retro notes, team roster entries, 1:1 or standup prep | `references/managing-project-staff.md` | | Vendor/contractor friction or negotiation | `references/contractor-relations.md` | | Anything else | Skip this skill unless a genuine match appears above | ## 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. ```bash 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. ```text 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 | Category | File | | --------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | Design Engineering | `references/design-engineering.md` | | Planning, Decision-Making, Documentation, Reporting | `references/planning-and-decisions.md` | | Managing Project Staff | `references/managing-project-staff.md` | | Working with Superiors | `references/working-with-superiors.md` | | Customer/Stakeholder Relations | `references/customer-stakeholder-relations.md` | | Contractor Relations | `references/contractor-relations.md` |