It’s competence porn. Every leader is actually the best person for the job, and they defer to the SMEs when it matters. Can you imagine if all your bosses were actually the best person for the job?
Honestly, maybe slightly justified by the nature of the setting? The number of ships that seem to exist in universe, compared to the number of entire planets full of people to draw crew from, is so low that one must imagine that the entry requirements can be exceptionally high. One could also imagine better technology might imply better education technology as well as more refined techniques for using it.
Young officers also do rotations in each department and find out which one they’re best suited to so it makes sense for each department head to be great at what they do.
Voyager’s command staff also had to merge an undisciplined terrorist crew into a rigid military organization. Pretty sure all the trouble makers in Learning Curve were Maquis.
It is definitely the nature of the setting, especially in the TNG era. They even covered what it would take to get into Starfleet Academy, which would be the equivalent of trying to get into an official US military academy.
There is also an issue with the scale of Starfleet during that time. Starfleet was depicted as far smaller in TNG than expected or with that came out during DS9. Picard also hints that Starfleet is desperate for skilled crew by the time of Picard.
If the SMEs and Dept Heads got there by merit and not because they’re a kiss-ass, banged the boss, or being a nepo-baby
If people only speak when they have relevant information to add, not because they’re in love with the sound of their own voice, have such a fragile ego they can’t comprehend they’re not the smartest person in the room
Everyone knows the goal and doesn’t dick around with chitchat asking how the weather is, or how their weekend was
I think [email protected] has it right in another subthread. Star Trek: TNG doesn’t quite reach the level of competence porn. Scotty does, though. Guy who is delighted to be sent to his room so he can catch up on his technical journals? Yeah, he’s hyper competent.
Grand Admiral Thrawn of Star Wars is full out competence porn. Most of Timothy Zahn’s novels are.
It’s competence porn. Every leader is actually the best person for the job, and they defer to the SMEs when it matters. Can you imagine if all your bosses were actually the best person for the job?
Honestly, maybe slightly justified by the nature of the setting? The number of ships that seem to exist in universe, compared to the number of entire planets full of people to draw crew from, is so low that one must imagine that the entry requirements can be exceptionally high. One could also imagine better technology might imply better education technology as well as more refined techniques for using it.
Young officers also do rotations in each department and find out which one they’re best suited to so it makes sense for each department head to be great at what they do.
Then there’s Barcley.
And I think Voyager had a few junior level crew that were having performance issues.
I mean Reg is the one who found a way to make contact with Voyager, he’s just terribly socially awkward so slotting him in Engineering works out
Early on in TNG he was kind of fucking up at his job though. Later on he became more competent yet still socially awkward.
True, although if we had fully functional holodecks I’d probably end up spending an inordinate amount of time in there too
Voyager’s command staff also had to merge an undisciplined terrorist crew into a rigid military organization. Pretty sure all the trouble makers in Learning Curve were Maquis.
It is definitely the nature of the setting, especially in the TNG era. They even covered what it would take to get into Starfleet Academy, which would be the equivalent of trying to get into an official US military academy.
There is also an issue with the scale of Starfleet during that time. Starfleet was depicted as far smaller in TNG than expected or with that came out during DS9. Picard also hints that Starfleet is desperate for skilled crew by the time of Picard.
Starfleet was pretty much wiped out at Wolf 359, I guess.
If your bosses were the best person for the job
If the SMEs and Dept Heads got there by merit and not because they’re a kiss-ass, banged the boss, or being a nepo-baby
If people only speak when they have relevant information to add, not because they’re in love with the sound of their own voice, have such a fragile ego they can’t comprehend they’re not the smartest person in the room
Everyone knows the goal and doesn’t dick around with chitchat asking how the weather is, or how their weekend was
I think [email protected] has it right in another subthread. Star Trek: TNG doesn’t quite reach the level of competence porn. Scotty does, though. Guy who is delighted to be sent to his room so he can catch up on his technical journals? Yeah, he’s hyper competent.
Grand Admiral Thrawn of Star Wars is full out competence porn. Most of Timothy Zahn’s novels are.
I’ve had that, and it’s amazing. Besides the salary, it’s what I miss the most from my old job.
Captain Picard is absolutely not the person a traumatized child should talk to about their dead parents.
(Especially not if Locutus is the reason they died.)