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Title: The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management by Tom Demarco ISBN: 0-932633-39-0 Publisher: Dorset House Pub. Date: July, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.51 (47 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Refreshing !
Comment: Tom DeMarco's choice of a novel format to describe the "black art" of project management was absolutely delightful. I didn't think anyone could write about that subject with such charm and wit. Everyone in the software industry should take note. Each time there was a twist in the plot, I thought of how one of my past projects took a similar turn.
His project management tips listed throughout the book were wonderful. My only gripe is that they weren't listed together in one place (like an epilogue.) If only more managers, particularly those in larger businesses, would run software projects by these principles.
Rating: 5
Summary: Essential Reading
Comment: The story line is contrived and the characters one dimensional, but The Deadline is a must read for anyone involved in the software development process.
If you have ever been involved in a project that has gone terribly wrong and want to take a fresh look at the possible reasons why, this book could be your guide. Demarco provides excellent insight into the circumstances that derail projects and offers concrete suggestions for improving the development process. The Deadline conveys its message in an entertaining and easily digested form.
Rating: 2
Summary: An easy read? Sure, but where's the substance?
Comment: Most other reviewers of this book claim that it is an easy read. I agree, but is "easy to read" enough to recommend this book? I don't have time for "an easy read" with little value. DeMarco gives us laundry lists of project management tips that most of us already know. I could have saved myself a bunch of time if I had simply read the main character's journal entries at the end of each chapter and skipped the "novel" part.
Speaking of "the novel part," DeMarco doesn't pull off the combination novel/business volume well. His fictional examples were too far from reality to be useful or compelling for me. At the same time, the examples weren't far enough from reality to accomplish the goals he set out in the Preface. In the Preface, DeMarco wrote that he patterned the style of the book after the style of George Gamow, a University of Colorado physicist of the 1930's. As a method of instruction about physics, Gamow wrote a series of essays in which a fictional Mr. Tompkins wakes up in alternate universes where fundamental physical constants are dramatically changed. This vehicle worked for Gamov's objective physical constants, but it falls short in the VERY subjective world DeMarco paints for us.
My last complaint about this book is the advertisement it contains for iThink software. It begins in chapter 10, when Tompkins meets a man who uses iThink to create a model of project management "hunches." We are shown a screen shot of what looks like a state machine diagram with rectangles, circles and arrows going this way and that between them. Tompkins, the main character, looks at the screen and says, "It looks pretty much like what's going on inside me when I try to figure out how well the team will perform." Huh? Is Tompkins a man or a machine? I just don't buy it. What are we being sold here?
Don't let the high marks from other reviewers fool you. This book does not have high value. If what you really want is "an easy read," find yourself a decent novel. If what you really want is a book about project management, try the books other reviewers have recommended.
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Title: Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects by Tom Demarco, Timothy Lister ISBN: 0932633609 Publisher: Dorset House Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Slack : Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency by TOM DEMARCO ISBN: 0767907698 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 09 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Peopleware : Productive Projects and Teams, 2nd Ed. by Tom Demarco, Timothy Lister, Timothy R. Lister ISBN: 0932633439 Publisher: Dorset House Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $33.95 |
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Title: The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, 20th Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) by Frederick P. Brooks ISBN: 0201835959 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 02 August, 1995 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Becoming a Technical Leader: An Organic Problem-Solving Approach by Gerald M. Weinberg ISBN: 0932633021 Publisher: Dorset House Pub. Date: September, 1986 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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