The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition)

Few books written about software engineering have value a few years after introduction. But Brooks is time less! This is a must read by anyone who craft is computer science. I would also suggest it to anyone who is in technology managment. It is very readable and very usable.

According to the readers comments for this book, I expected to read more interesting book...
It was fun to read, somethings it was to hard to understand what author had in mind.
There's was to much os/360 in that book :)

If you think it would be outdated it must be because you have not worked long in the business of software engineering. It is not about languages or tools, its about managing people. As much as we like to think we can automate the eccentricities and flaws of people away, we never will. Software engineering is a process done by people - not machines and milestones on paper. In order to succeed the key is not avoiding mistakes; mistakes are inevitable. No, the secret to success is not the process but the people who use the process. Having the tools and understanding to not just handle setbacks of human error but to flourish in them, that is the secret to success. That is what this book tries to convey. Too few seem to get the message.

Fred Brooks wrote the original edition of this book about software development truths in 1975. What's so striking is how his assertions still hold true through all the apparent changes in how software is built, sold, and used. The title refers to Brooks' proven assertion that, for most projects, adding more people to a late software project will make it later. He has many others, including the famous "No Silver Bullet" article. In his 1995 update, he finds that most of his original claims are still true.

Don't be put off by all the examples about punched cards, assembly language, and IBM mainframes. Rather, look for ideas like requirements management, iterative development, and even hints of extreme programming ("surgical teams"). Brooks and others saw these things in 1975, while predicting that software development productivity had no chance of vast gains per decade parallel to hardware gains.

But Brooks hopes you read with optimism. The message is not that software development can't improve. Rather, that the essential part (not the mechanics of coding which has improved somewhat) is people creating machines (software) from pure thought. We can look for improvement methods in our ways of thinking, communicating, and working together.

Even 30 years later most of Mr. Brooks' ideas are still very applicable. In a nutshell, I strongly feel that anyone involved with the software developement life cycle should read this book. It's a pretty easy read, shouldn't take you too long and the knowledge gained from it will be extremely helpful for you and those you work with.

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