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Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. Quotes

Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer.

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer.

Tags: einstein, programming, software development, software engineering

Give a great deal of attention to keeping his managers and his technical people as interchangeable as their talents allow. The barriers are sociological... To overcome this problem some laboratories,...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Give a great deal of attention to keeping his managers and his technical people as interchangeable as their talents allow. The barriers are sociological... To overcome this problem some laboratories,...

About Author
Frederick Phillips Brooks Jr. (April 19, 1931 – November 17, 2022) was an American computer architect, software engineer, and computer scientist, best known for managing the development of IBM's System/360 family of computers and the OS/360 software support package, then later writing candidly about those experiences in his seminal book The Mythical Man-Month.
In 1976, Brooks was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for "contributions to computer system design and the development of academic programs in computer sciences".
Brooks received many awards, including the National Medal of Technology in 1985 and the Turing Award in 1999.

Not only the whats of the design, but also the whys by which it was reached.

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Not only the whats of the design, but also the whys by which it was reached.

Second, our estimating techniques fallaciously confuse effort with progress, hiding the assumption that men and months are interchangeable.

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Second, our estimating techniques fallaciously confuse effort with progress, hiding the assumption that men and months are interchangeable.

As time passes, the system becomes less and less well-ordered. Sooner or later the fixing cease to gain any ground. Each forward step is matched by a backward one. Although in principle usable forever...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

As time passes, the system becomes less and less well-ordered. Sooner or later the fixing cease to gain any ground. Each forward step is matched by a backward one. Although in principle usable forever...

Observe that for the programmer, as for the chef, the urgency of the patron may govern the scheduled completion of the task, but it cannot govern the actual completion. An omelette, promised in two mi...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Observe that for the programmer, as for the chef, the urgency of the patron may govern the scheduled completion of the task, but it cannot govern the actual completion. An omelette, promised in two mi...

Testing is usually the most mis-scheduled part of programming.

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Testing is usually the most mis-scheduled part of programming.

Any attempt to fix it with minimum effort will repair the local and obvious, but unless the structure is pure or the documentation very fine, the far-reaching effects of the repair will be overlooked....

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Any attempt to fix it with minimum effort will repair the local and obvious, but unless the structure is pure or the documentation very fine, the far-reaching effects of the repair will be overlooked....

To summarize: write down explicit guesses for the attributes of the user set. It is far better to be explicit and wrong than to be vague.

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

To summarize: write down explicit guesses for the attributes of the user set. It is far better to be explicit and wrong than to be vague.

Especially noteworthy is his comment that new people added late in a development project must be team players willing to pitch in and work within the process, and not attempt to alter or improve the p...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Especially noteworthy is his comment that new people added late in a development project must be team players willing to pitch in and work within the process, and not attempt to alter or improve the p...

Hustle provides the cushion, the reserve capacity, that enables a team to cope with routine mishaps, to anticipate and forfend minor calamities. The calculated response, the measured effort, are the w...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Hustle provides the cushion, the reserve capacity, that enables a team to cope with routine mishaps, to anticipate and forfend minor calamities. The calculated response, the measured effort, are the w...

Even at a cost of $100,000, a purchased piece of software is costing only about as much as one programmer-year. And delivery is immediate! Immediate at least for products that really exist, products w...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Even at a cost of $100,000, a purchased piece of software is costing only about as much as one programmer-year. And delivery is immediate! Immediate at least for products that really exist, products w...

Observe that for the programmer, as for the chef, the urgency of the patron may govern the scheduled completion of the task, but it cannot govern the actual completion.

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Observe that for the programmer, as for the chef, the urgency of the patron may govern the scheduled completion of the task, but it cannot govern the actual completion.

Finally, there is the delight of working in such a tractable medium. The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, cre...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Finally, there is the delight of working in such a tractable medium. The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, cre...

The large organization will consist of many semi-autonomous units, which we may call quasi-firms. Each of them will have a large amount of freedom, to give the greatest possible chance to creativity a...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

The large organization will consist of many semi-autonomous units, which we may call quasi-firms. Each of them will have a large amount of freedom, to give the greatest possible chance to creativity a...

Because ease of use is the purpose, this ratio of function to conceptual complexity is the ultimate test of system design. Neither function alone nor simplicity alone defines a good design. This point...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Because ease of use is the purpose, this ratio of function to conceptual complexity is the ultimate test of system design. Neither function alone nor simplicity alone defines a good design. This point...

Good cooking takes time. If you are made to wait, it is to serve you better, and to please you.

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Good cooking takes time. If you are made to wait, it is to serve you better, and to please you.

The true implementers are intimately involved in the design process; their broad experience provides the balance for a designer’s limited implementation examples. (In

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

The true implementers are intimately involved in the design process; their broad experience provides the balance for a designer’s limited implementation examples. (In

The opportunity to be creative and inventive in implementation is not significantly diminished by working within a given external specification, and the order of creativity may even be enhanced by tha...

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

The opportunity to be creative and inventive in implementation is not significantly diminished by working within a given external specification, and the order of creativity may even be enhanced by tha...

A ship on the beach is a lighthouse to the sea.(DUTCH PROVERB)

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

A ship on the beach is a lighthouse to the sea.(DUTCH PROVERB)

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