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Manufictioners Club

Doctor Strange and Magic as Technology: Identifying Stakeholders and Product Ownership (Part 1)

Season 2, Ep. 1

Welcome to The Manufictioners Club, a podcast that explores the business behind some of your favorite fictional technology. Everyone likes to think about the cool gadgets and gizmos science fiction has to offer, but we’re here to talk about just how all of it would get made. Each episode, the crew breaks down a different element of the product development process and gets way off into the weeds with all sorts of nerdy goodness.


In season two our hosts Zaheen, Karl, and Sean explore Arthur C. Clarke’s third law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Join us for part one of our discussion about the magical world of Doctor Strange, and answer some of your most pressing questions: If magic is technology, are spells equivalent to apps? Who is Clarion Ouzo and why does his name sound so familiar to Francis Ford Coppola fans? And can plaid be a good school mascot?


If you want to check us out across the web, buy some sweet merch, or become a card-carrying Club member, follow this link! Thanks, and enjoy the show.

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  • 1. Manufictioners Club Trailer

    01:19
    Do you...Like comics?Like technology?Like to nerd out talking about comics and technology???Like to use the word "like"?The Manufictioners Club is a new way of dissecting how the gadgets and gizmos in our favorite shows, movies, and games get built. Each season takes a different fictional technology and identifies what it needs to do, who will care about it, how it could get built, and ends with how it actually gets put to use. Each episode is pure nerdy goodness. Plus, there's a Bat Cave full of bonus content available on our Patreon (patreon.com/themanufictionersclub) channel. If you're a human being and not a human doing, join us in The Manufictioners Club!
  • 1. Iron Man Armor: Identifying the Stakeholders

    55:18
    Welcome to The Manufictioners Club, a podcast that explores the business behind some of your favorite fictional technology. Everyone likes to think about the cool gadgets and gizmos science fiction has to offer, but we’re here to talk about just how all of it would get made. Each episode, the crew breaks down a different element of the product development process and gets way off into the weeds with all sorts of nerdy goodness. This season focuses on one of Marvel’s Finest: The Iron-Man. More specifically, how exactly the first incarnation of this life-saving, villain-wrecking machine would actually work. This episode is all about the Who. And no, we’re not talking about the famed 70s rock band. Who exactly has something to gain from the development of this armor? Tony Stark is an obvious one, but different versions of Tony have different needs. How does his first appearance compare to his big-screen debut? What about the other major players, like Yinsen, Wong Chu, Raza, or Obadiah? This episode sets the stage for the season, and it starts by laying out who exactly this project's stakeholders are.If you want to check us out across the web, buy some sweet merch, or become a card-carrying Club member, follow this link! Thanks, and enjoy the show.
  • 2. Iron Man Armor: Determining the Scope

    50:05
    Welcome to The Manufictioners Club, a podcast that explores the business behind some of your favorite fictional technology. You’ve seen it all on screen, but how exactly would something like that get made? This season, we’re focusing on the Iron Man armor. Each episode, the crew breaks down a different element of the product development process and gets way off into the weeds with all sorts of delightful tangents. Every project has to deal with its boundaries. When your project’s development happens in a dark cave, inches from death, with a crazed warmonger looking over your shoulder, the finer points of project scope management become abundantly clear. Today, we talk more about Tony’s predicament and how the differences between his first comic and film appearances impact the scope of his project. How does location impact development? Are the differences in Tony’s character important? All this and more are outlined now! If you want to check us out across the web, buy some sweet merch, or become a card-carrying Club member, follow this link! Thanks, and enjoy the show.
  • 3. Iron Man Armor: Detailing the Requirements

    52:52
    Welcome to The Manufictioners Club, a podcast that explores the business behind some of your favorite fictional technology. You’ve seen it all on screen, but how exactly would something like that get made? This season, we’re focusing on the Iron Man armor. Each episode, the crew breaks down a different element of the product development process and gets way off into the weeds with whatever sorts of shenanigans they can come up with. This episode breaks down all the requirements that Tony’s armor has to meet. There’s the obvious stuff like, you know, keeping him alive, as well as the things you might not have thought of. As always, they go over the differences between the different iterations of Iron Man and how the context impacts his needs. Sean, Zaheen, and Karl use their career expertise to think about all of the req angles so that Tony doesn’t have to! Thank us later, Mr. Stark. If you want to check us out across the web, buy some sweet merch, or become a card-carrying Club member, follow this link! Thanks, and enjoy the show.
  • 4. Iron Man Armor: Drafting the Design of the Mark I

    43:42
    Welcome to The Manufictioners Club, a podcast that explores the business behind some of your favorite fictional technology. You’ve seen it all on screen, but how exactly would something like that get made? This season, we’re focusing on the Iron Man armor. Each episode, the crew breaks down a different element of the product development process and gets way off into the weeds with whatever sorts of shenanigans they can come up with.Now that we have our scope and requirements squared away, we can start to develop the MVP, or Minimally Viable Product, and determine how exactly to design something as unique as the Mark I Iron Man Armor. Do the enhancements in technology make the 2008 armor easier or harder to make? Should Zaheen become a metallurgy consultant? All these questions and more to be answered inside!If you want to check us out across the web, buy some sweet merch, or become a card-carrying Club member, follow this link! Thanks, and enjoy the show.
  • 5. Iron Man Armor: Developing Marvel’s Favorite Iron Suit

    42:59
    Welcome to The Manufictioners Club, a podcast that explores the business behind some of your favorite fictional technology. You’ve seen it all on screen, but how exactly would something like that get made? This season, we’re focusing on the Iron Man armor. Each episode, the crew breaks down a different element of the product development process and gets way off into the weeds with whatever sorts of tomfoolery they can come up with.No matter how airtight your planning phase goes, there’s nothing that can prepare you for the trials and tribulations of that tricky development process. This goes double for our rapidly-decaying hero, who’s being held against his will in a dank cave. How will this affect the dev process? What about the shrapnel barreling towards Tony’s heart? Our crack team of hosts sit down today to examine the three dimensions of project control–Time, Scope, and Resources– and hypothesize how to keep the project on track in time to save Tony’s life.If you want to check us out across the web, buy some sweet merch, or become a card-carrying Club member, follow this link! Thanks, and enjoy the show.
  • 6. Iron Man Armor: Testing Under Duress

    49:08
    Welcome to The Manufictioners Club, a podcast that explores the business behind some of your favorite fictional technology. You’ve seen it all on screen, but how exactly would something like that get made? This season, we’re focusing on the Iron Man armor. Each episode, the crew breaks down a different element of the product development process and gets way off into the weeds with a criminal amount of bad puns and nonsense.As a kid, tests were pretty much one of the most stressful parts of life. As a project manager, they’re pretty much the same. This is the phase where you figure out if your planning has come to fruition or if it’s back to the drawing board. In Tony’s case, the “drawing board” is certain death, so let’s hope Sean, Zaheen, and Karl have done their research…If you want to check us out across the web, buy some sweet merch, or become a card-carrying Club member, follow this link! Thanks, and enjoy the show.
  • 7. Iron Man Armor: Deploying the Technology and (hopefully) Saving Tony Stark

    46:41
    Welcome to The Manufictioners Club, a podcast that explores the business behind some of your favorite fictional technology. You’ve seen it all on screen, but how exactly would something like that get made? This season, we’re focusing on the Iron Man armor. Each episode, the crew breaks down a different element of the product development process and gets way off into the weeds with tearful season one goodbyes and season two promises.Ah, you’ve made it. The top of the proverbial mountain. This is where it all comes together, the final boss. All of the work and preparation that our PM’s have done is going to sink or swim right here in the deployment stage. This episode is where our wonderful hosts discuss what could potentially go wrong with deployment, and generally gripe about the struggles of deploying any new technology. This is the big one folks!If you want to see/hear more content before the release of the next season, look for updates, or just see what’s crackin’ on the social media waves, follow this link! Thanks, and enjoy the show.