Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition

Influential Classic on Software Development: A Must-Read
This is an excellent compendium of knowledge about software development, particularly in relation to project management and efficient team organization. Though it covers more topics than just those, it really demystifies and sheds light on why managing software development is so different and so much more difficult than any other industry.If you have any interest in philosophy, computer science, or good writing, this book is well worth your time. If you are interested in two or three of them, it’s a must-read. This is a classic in the software development space and has been extremely influential for many years.Mr. Brooks’ writing style is impeccable; he carefully dissects and examines each topic, with the wit and wisdom merited by such a technical field, yet he does it without using a lot of double-speak or unnecessary “fluff” – not a true text but rather a collection of essays, each chapter comes across as a polished, finished product, well-focused on a single topic.This particular edition is also highly recommended. It contains four additional chapters: No Silver Bullet, yet another influential essay by Brooks that was not in the original edition; an overview of all his points (the entire book) in an easy-to-digest format; his thoughts 20 years on from writing the original, and how the industry has changed in that time; and finally, his responses to various criticism he has received over the years specifically in response to the “No Silver Bullet” essay.This is an excellent purchase and a great read.

Wonderful; Essential!
Oddly, I was reminded of this classic work whilst reading Chris Date’s otherwise quite unremarkable tome, “The Third Manifesto”. Date and Darwen cite this classic text admiringly. And this may be the most important contribution to have emerged from their efforts. Having toiled in the Information Technology field for decades, I was, of course, familiar with many of the gems of wisdom that were first articulated by Brooks in this classic book. But it was a true joy and revelation finally to read the book itself from cover to cover.Among the pearls of wisdom contained within these pages are the following:Adding people to a late software project tends to make it later.While it takes one woman nine months to give birth, nine women cannot accomplish the same task in one month. (Hence, the concept of the mythical man month. People and time are not interchangeable commodities.)The factor most dispositive of success in software engineering is conceptual integrity.The first duty of the manager is create a concise and precise written plan.Communication, and its attendant, organization, require as much skill and careful consideration as any other aspect of technical project leadership.There are many, many more wonderful insights contained within the corpus of this outstanding book. While dated, no doubt, the truths that emerge from careful consideration of this important work are that overcoming problems of human interaction are really paramount to success in any task as complicated as software engineering and that the discipline of software engineering is perhaps one of the most wonderfully rewarding career paths open to creative and serious folks even today. This outstanding book rightly deserves an honored place in the library of any person who would succeed in a career in information technology now, or in the future. Yes, it deals with human factors that some may argue can be overcome by technology. But, as Brooks so cogently demonstrates in his wonderful essay on the “silver bullet”, the search for the final solution to the problem of software engineering is very much like the hope to slay the mythical werewolf with a silver bullet in that it is a search for an enigma to deal with a chimera. It can’t realistically hope to succeed.Finally, in assessing the timeless importance of this classic, we are reminded of the sage advise of that great philosopher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, that, when working with people, everything is political. Yes, the human factors always do matter. And Dr. Brooks has illuminated those human factors of software engineering in a manner both satisfying and edifying. Pick up this timeless classic. Absorb the teachings. And watch your productivity and effectiveness in the discipline soar. God bless.

Letto molti anni fa all’inizio della carriera, l’ho visto in offerta usato e ho voluto comprarlo per la mia libreria.Racconta molte cose che dovrebbe essere ovvie a tutti, ma purtroppo ancora oggi si incontrano professionisti del settore a cui mancano decisamente le basi.

Um clássico que sempre assusta: como estamos errando e falando das mesmas coisas há tantos anos? Estamos aprendendo com as experiências passadas, ou apenas reinventando a roda e caindo nos mesmos erros a cada novo sistema? Leitura obrigatória para todos os profissionais de TI, principalmente desenvolvedores.