Customer Reviews

Why Does Software Cost So Much?: And Other Puzzles of the Information Age

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The software industry has been cranking out books at a record pace. Any self respecting software professional reads anywhere from a handful to a pile each year. But, if an engineer could get upper management to read one book so they could better understand the engineer's world, which book would it be? This one comes to mind.

Why does software cost so much? DeMarco bristles at the question. Compared to what?! "[its] not a question at all; it's an assertion." In a series of essays DeMarco and others make observations that ring true. Here's one gem: "I suspect the typical software engineer doesn't work overtime to make the schedule, but in order not to feel so bad about not making it."

All of the essays are brief and to the point. The book was first published in 1995 and several of the essays are works published earlier. A few that mention particular technologies, languages, or management fads are showing signs of age. The essays that concentrate on the sociology of programming still hit home. And why not? Tools and technologies evolve quickly but people and their habits don't.

DeMarco's casual and fluid writing style make each of the essays easy to read but be careful not to confuse "easy to read" with "trivial." There is plenty here to make an engineer think and to give a CEO some insight into the complex and sometimes baffling world of software.

It seems that in every field of human endeavor, there are things that are true, but for whatever reason are unspoken and ignored. The reasons for this are many, but a partial list includes: fear of failure, fear of losing face, time pressures, rigid rules and tradition. Software development is no different and Tom DeMarco is a speaker of the truth. In this collection of marvelous essays, he points out many of the well-known but neglected principles that generate problems in software projects.
The leading essay points out that software creation is hard and we demand a great deal from our software. So much of our societal infrastructure is controlled by software and most of it built in a relatively short time. Furthermore, there is no legacy of experience in building software that there is for building hard infrastructure items such bridges and roads. We are still conducting what is essentially on the job training.
Another simple, significant, yet overlooked point is that the sociology of a project is more important than the technology. The efficiency of a programmer during any individual day is often influenced more by the fight with a boyfriend or girlfriend than it is by having the latest tools. Software is built by the effective working of the human brains and the tools just make the output easier to capture.
Once again, DeMarco is at his best, namely when he is writing more about sociology and psychology than about the technical aspects of computing. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone in the process of building a development team.

Tom DeMarco has to be one of the most clear and lucid writers in software engineering. In this book he covers a wide range of material, all with the same light, easy to read style. Almost every essay raises questions or provides insight that I had not considered before. DeMarco has definitely changed my outlook (or at least made me think more critically) on many areas of my career in software.

The only reason I didn't give this book five stars was that some of the essays seem to have been thrown in as an afterthought to make the book thicker. A few didn't really flow together with the rest of the book.

I bought this book because I really enjoyed Peopleware, I was disappointed.

This book contains a few interesting essays at the front, but as it proceeds the pieces tend toward unsubstantiated opinion, and then the book finishes as a means for publishing dross that otherwise wouldn't be printed.

Some of the essays are great. Some don't even seem pertinent. For example, there is a discussion about A/V equipment that, while humorous, felt out of place. On the whole, there was a lot of thought provoking material, however.

DeMarco is a wonderful writer...easy, even fun, to read, and this book is full of very worthwhile material. It has the shortcoming of being a collection of articles, so don't expect a coherent beginning, middle and end; and you may find that you agree with the author in one chapter and disagree in the next. I found, though, that I even enjoyed the stuff with which I didn't agree. DeMarco's thinking and his writing style are that good.

I first read the Deadline and then this book. And this should be the order in which you read these books.

Why does software... is a collection of essays on software programming and management of these activities. It's a nice collection of easy to read essays which will spark your thinking about these issues.

And of course it is about the two things (among many other sideline topics) Tom DeMarco is famous for: Measurement, People Management and Structured Analysis.

And as you can expect from a DeMarco it praises User centric design, Advanced Measurement and heavily criticizes the ideas of factory like programming, Lean = "organizational bulimia", and the futurists movement.

And if you are the head of IT development in your company - it is the perfect gift to give any of your business counterparts on the 2nd week of your project.

This, the first book I have read by this author, I initially thought to myself, "Where is he going with this?" Then, I realized that through what at first seemed to me to be ramble, some very important points emerged and the author had captured my interest!

I rarely have the time to read for pleasure, but I did make time to read through this array of 24 essays.

This book covers many subjects and expresses philosophical as well as factual views. It is filled with a variety of software and technology topics, management and other business issues. It is thought-provoking and interesting.

True, the book has been around for a while and I found some of the reading to be outdated; however, beyond that, this book does offer interesting insights.

Tom DeMarco has a way with words, is witty, and is a brilliant communicator. Essay 23 adds flavor to the book . . . enjoy! Bon Appetit!

DeMarco did it again. This book fully achieves the two things i expect from any good book: it made me laugh and it made me think. It made me laugh about the crazy industry we are working in, and it made me think about my own managerial techniques (or the lack of them). It is true that it contains some essays about things that do not seem to be appropiate, but the A/V essay is very interesting, and does show that software costs can be reduced with creativity instead of pressure.

This, the first book I have read by this author, I initially thought to myself, "Where is he going with this?" Then, I realized that through what at first seemed to me to be ramble, some very important points emerged and the author had captured my interest!

I rarely have the time to read for pleasure, but I did make time to read through this array of 24 essays.

This book covers many subjects and expresses philosophical as well as factual views. It is filled with a variety of software and technology topics, management and other business issues. It is thought-provoking and interesting.

True, the book has been around for a while and I found some of the reading to be outdated; however, beyond that, this book does offer interesting insights.

Tom DeMarco has a way with words, is witty, and is a brilliant communicator. Essay 23 adds flavor to the book . . . enjoy! Bon Appetit!