“ The programmer at wit's end for lack of space can often do best by disentangling himself from his code, rearing back, and contemplating his data. Representation is the essence of programming. 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… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ Peopleware. A major contribution during recent years has been DeMarco and Lister's 1987 book, Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. Its underlying thesis is that The major problems of our work ar… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ Nothing even convincing, much less exciting, has yet emerged from such efforts. I am persuaded that nothing will. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ Fifth, when schedule slippage is recognized, the natural (and traditional) response is to add manpower. Like dousing a fire with gasoline, this makes matters worse, much worse. More fire requires more… 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… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ A computer program is a message from a man to a machine. The rigidly marshaled syntax and the scrupulous definitions all exist to make intention clear to the dumb engine. But a written program has ano… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ Program maintenance involves no cleaning, lubrication, or repair of deterioration. It consists chiefly of changes that repair design defects. Much more often than with hardware, these changes include… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ Over-specified implementations cost way more than they should, with little added function or performance. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ In collaboration with Sharif Razzaque There are many ways of making a fool of yourself with a digital computer, and to have one more can hardly make any difference. SIR MAURICE WILKES [1959], THE EDSA… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ If, as I believe, the conceptual structures we construct today are too complicated to be accurately specified in advance, and too complex to be built faultlessly, then we must take a radically differe… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ If there are n workers on a project, there are (n2–n)/2 interfaces across which there may be communication, and there are potentially almost 2n teams within which coordination must occur. The purpose… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ Good cooking takes time. If you are made to wait, it is to serve you better, and to please you. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ For the human makers of things, the incompletenesses and inconsistencies of our ideas become clear only during implementation. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ An omelette, promised in two minutes, may appear to be progressing nicely. But when it has not set in two minutes, the customer has two choices—wait or eat it raw. Software customers have had the same… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ Therefore the most important function that software builders do for their clients is the iterative extraction and refinement of the product requirements. For the truth is, the clients do not know what… Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“ The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
