The movie Ant Man is chock full of project management lessons. Curious? Read on to find out what they are! (Full disclosure there are spoilers for the movie in this presentation) To see the expanded original post: http://bit.ly/29AiOCI

1. 7 Project Management
Lessons From Ant-Man

2. From creative thinking to team management to stressful
deadlines, Ant-Man is a great film that highlights common
lessons project managers typically learn on the job.
Here are seven project management lessons from Ant-Man!
WARNING: what follows contains serious
spoilers.

3. 1. Celebrate diversity of talent on your
team.

4. 1. Celebrate diversity of talent on your
team.
All the members of Ant-Man’s team
have special abilities. There are
different kinds of ants for different
types of problems- fire ants can be
“architects,” crazy ants can conduct
electricity, and carpenter ants can
fly and carry heavy objects on their
back.
Using all their team members
effectively allows Hank and Scott to
complete their projects.

5. Takeaway:
• Know where your individual teammates are the strongest
• Assign projects based on those skill sets

6. 2. Transparency will inspire your
teammates.

7. 2. Transparency will inspire your
teammates.
At first Hank lies to his daughter,
Hope, about her mother’s death and
why she couldn’t wear the Ant-Man
suit.
Because Hope suspects he is lying,
she is unwilling to go along with his
plans and the mission only begins
once Hank reveals the truth about
Hope and her mother’s past.

8. Takeaway:
• As project manager, you have most direct contact with
higher-ups
• Share as much information about your project with your
team as possible in order to build trust.
• Make sure to keep stakeholders updated as well!

9. 3. Don’t be afraid to go off script.

10. 3. Don’t be afraid to go off script.
When breaking into Pym’s safes,
Scott uses creativity and ingenuity to
bypass a fingerprint scanner that he
was not expecting to encounter.
Additionally, Scott uses his creativity
to escape the inescapable quantum
realm when he supercharges his suit
with a disk given to him by Hank!

11. Takeaway:
• Be prepared for problem-solving in the moment
• Don’t be afraid of creative thinking!

12. 4. Take the time to learn your
technology.

13. 4. Take the time to learn your
technology.
When he first uses the Ant-Man suit,
Scott doesn’t know how to use it
properly, and almost drowns in a
bathtub as a consequence!
It takes the guidance of someone like
Hank, with years of experience, to
teach Scott to control the immense
power of the Ant-Man suit.

14. Takeaway:
• Remember that powerful tools like Project Management
Software need training to be used effectively
• Make sure your team takes advantage of phone support,
learning centers, and live training

15. 5. If scope changes, scale your team
accordingly.

16. 5. If scope changes, scale your team
accordingly.
When it turns out that the lab Scott
is trying to infiltrate has tripled
security, three more members have
to be added to the team.
Though Hank is reluctant to add
three criminals to his team, he
admits that there is no other option
at the moment.

17. Takeaway:
• Know when a project is too big for your current resources and
be ready to add freelancers, contractors, and even new hires
when necessary

18. 6. No project is entirely protected from negative
events.

19. 6. No project is entirely protected from negative
events.
Even with Hank’s resources and
brilliance, he is unable to foresee
that his enemy will be waiting to kill
Hank and Scott inside the lab.
Sometimes even with the right
preparation, negative events can be
unavoidable.

20. Takeaway:
• Even with the appropriate planning, unforeseen problems
arise
• To avoid this, identify pain points, evaluate the severity of
each risk, and create contingency plans for your highest-
priority risks

21. 7. Arrogance leads to misguided
thinking.

22. 7. Arrogance leads to misguided thinking.
Darren Cross is a genius, and he is
willing to use that genius for evil.
But because of his arrogance, he has
not realized that the research he is
conducting has been changing his
brain chemistry, slowly making him
more violent and insane.
He never takes a step back to wonder
why his old mentor, Hank, has cut
him off.

23. Takeaway:
• As a project manager, don’t forget to check your ego
• Be ready to ask for advice or give up control when necessary

24. Originally published by Rachel Burger on
Capterra's Project Management Blog