Re: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing?

I've read Frederick Brooks' book The Mythical Man-Month and I think it's a must read.

However don't feel inclined to believe that you never need to add people to a project.

So, instead of having "the right" answer prepared when someone wants to add more people to a project, I think it's better to analyse each particular case, and make your arguments based on the situation at hand, not on some Axiom.

Dodge This!

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Re^2: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing? by ciderpunx (Vicar) on Feb 20, 2006 at 12:56 UTC
It's a great read (Brooks is an excellent writer), and contains some top quotes. For example: "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later." "Cost does indeed vary as the product of the number of men and the number of months. Progress does not. Hence the man-month as a unit for measuring the size of a job is a dangerous and deceptive myth. It implies that men and months are interchangeable." "The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned. Many software tasks have this characteristic because of the sequential nature of debugging." Make your managers read it! -- charlieharvey.org.uk	[reply]

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Re^2: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing?
by ciderpunx (Vicar) on Feb 20, 2006 at 12:56 UTC

some top quotes

"Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later."
"Cost does indeed vary as the product of the number of men and the number of months. Progress does not. Hence the man-month as a unit for measuring the size of a job is a dangerous and deceptive myth. It implies that men and months are interchangeable."
"The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned. Many software tasks have this characteristic because of the sequential nature of debugging."

--
charlieharvey.org.uk

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