Kane Mar

The Kobayashi Maru is the name of a starship in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and also the name of a simulation of a no-win scenario. Wikipedia has a good outline of the scenario and the dilemma:

… the cadet receives a distress signal, stating that the Kobayashi has struck a “gravitic mine” in the Klingon Neutral Zone and is rapidly losing power, hull integrity and life support. There are no other vessels nearby. The cadet is faced with a decision:

Attempt to rescue the Kobayashi’s crew and passengers, which involves violating the Neutral Zone and potentially provoking the Klingons into hostile action or an all-out war; or Abandon the Kobayashi, potentially preventing war but leaving the crew and passengers to die.

If the cadet chooses to save the Kobayashi, the scenario progresses quickly. The bridge officers notify the cadet that they are in violation of the treaty, which is duly noted in the log. As the starship enters the Neutral Zone, the communications officer loses contact with the crippled vessel.

Three Klingon starships then appear on an intercept course. Attempts to contact them are met with radio silence; indeed, their only response is to open fire, with devastating results.

The simulation ends with the understanding that the cadet’s ship and crew have been lost. [1]

The Kobayashi Maru is a true no-win scenario, because there is no correct resolution. It’s a test of character rather than a problem solving exercise. In a case of life imitating art, the Kobayashi Maru has become a way to describe difficult situations in business [3]. The Kobayashi Maru has also become associated with original thinking [4]. In explaining how he passed the test [5], Captain Kirk admits to not believing in a no-win situation.

Product Owners and the Kobayashi Maru
The Kobayashi scenario should be familiar to anyone who has introduced Scrum into an organization. No-win scenarios happen so often that I am now of the opinion that introducing Scrum is a natural breeding ground for Kobayashi type situations. I blogged about one such problem here [6].

And, interestingly enough it’s been my experience that Product Owners are usually the ones who face the most difficult decisions. This may be because PO’s, more often then not, have to bridge existing process of project sponsorship and funding with new Scrum approaches. In many ways the two don’t agree and often hold diametrically opposing points of view.

There are no easy solutions to Kobayahsi scenarios because, by definition, the exercise is a no-win situation. I will share with you, however, my personal strategy that I’ve used successfully in the past; it is the same general strategy that Peter Kirk used:

Upon entering the Neutral Zone, he provokes the Romulans who are expected to destroy the Enterprise. Before the Romulans open fire, Peter challenges the Romulan commander to a ritual fight-to-the-death (using an obscure but still valid Romulan law predating their schism with the Vulcans), in which actual battle is prohibited until the contest is resolved. As Peter leaves the bridge to go to the simulation transporter room, he instructs the crew to beam aboard the “survivors” and escape, leaving him to certain death … Peter is credited with coming up with an actual “winning” solution: saving the Kobayashi Maru and his own ship by sacrificing himself. [1]

If every decision that I make is going to make someone unhappy, then I choose the solution that makes the team happiest.

References:
[1] Wikipedia entry about the Kobayashi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru
[2] The Kobayashi scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDE8pjiCnSw
[3] http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/2008/0610.html
[4] http://www.valueinnovation.net/2008/02/redefining-markets-captain-kirk.html
[5] Captain Kirks solution to the Kobayashi: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1812765c5AQTX92
[6] My blog entry about a difficult decision: http://kanemar.com/2006/06/18/difficult-decisions-when-youre-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/