Controlling Software Projects
by T. DeMarco · first published 1986
6mentions
3recommended by
5HN commenters
2010–2020first – last mentioned
60% recommend40% neutral
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…to mention some of my favorite business books. They helped me become the programmer I am much more than any programming book. Differentiate or Die - Jack Trout Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki Controlling Software Projects - Tom DeMarco You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar - David Sandler Carnegie - Peter Krass Do More Faster - Brad Feld and David Cohen Founders at Work - Jessica Livingston But if…
on “What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?” ↗…completely is better than finishing a one month task 50% (which really means that 90% is still left). I learned this approach years ago from my hero of project management, Tom DeMarco http://www.amazon.com/Controlling-Software-Projects-Manageme... Every task is either complete or not complete. In spite of what many bosses of mine have thought, there is no such thing as "partially complete". Even when I break things down like this,…
on “Jerry Seinfeld's Productivity Secret” ↗…program management). Please look up the papers on planning & quality & cost & schedule from Capers Jones. The textbook is literally titled "The Economics of Software Quality". Tom DeMarco's classic is "Controlling Software Projects". I'm trying to give you a starting point to see that it's not even my anecdotes, but repeatable studies that show this. Your examples are that requirements change, and it's hard. Of the few buildings…
on “Plan the Sprint, Not the Project” ↗maybe COCOMO II or COSYSMO to give you an effort estimate. They're meant to be calibrated to your environment though. Or a book like this: DeMarco, Tom. Controlling Software Projects: Management, Measurement and Estimation. ISBN 0-13-171711-1.
on “Ask HN: How do i determine how much software development will cost?” ↗…"The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature." Sorry Google Memo Dude. DeMarco and Lister called it in the 80s. Speaking of DeMarco, he also wrote a book about controlling software projects before Peopleware. Then in 2009 he denounced it. [1] To understand control’s real role, you need to distinguish between two drastically different kinds of projects: * Project…
on “Ask HN: What mistakes in your experience does management keep making?” ↗Tom DeMarco, of Peopleware fame, wrote a book called "Controlling Software Projects: Management, Measurement, and Estimation". He has, in some ways, rejected his ideas in that book. In this article, "Software Engineering: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone?" http://www2.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homep...…
on “Why Programmers Are Bad at Estimating Time” ↗