The Design of Design: Essays from a Computer Scientist 1st Edition

by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. (Author)

38 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0201362985

ISBN-10: 0201362988

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Making Sense of Design

Effective design is at the heart of everything from software development to engineering to architecture. But what do we really know about the design process? What leads to effective, elegant designs? The Design of Design addresses these questions.

These new essays by Fred Brooks contain extraordinary insights for designers in every discipline. Brooks pinpoints constants inherent in all design projects and uncovers processes and patterns likely to lead to excellence. Drawing on conversations with dozens of exceptional designers, as well as his own experiences in several design domains, Brooks observes that bold design decisions lead to better outcomes.

The author tracks the evolution of the design process, treats collaborative and distributed design, and illuminates what makes a truly great designer. He examines the nuts and bolts of design processes, including budget constraints of many kinds, aesthetics, design empiricism, and tools, and grounds this discussion in his own real-world examples—case studies ranging from home construction to IBM's Operating System/360. Throughout, Brooks reveals keys to success that every designer, design project manager, and design researcher should know.

The Design of Design: Essays from a Computer Scientist

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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Making Sense of Design Effective design is at the heart of everything from software development to engineering to architecture. But what do we really know about the design process? What leads to effective, elegant designs? The Design of Design addresses these questions. These new essays by Fred Brooks contain extraordinary insights for designers in every discipline. Brooks pinpoints constants inherent in all design projects and uncovers processes and patterns likely to lead to excellence. Drawing on conversations with dozens of exceptional designers, as well as his own experiences in several design domains, Brooks observes that bold design decisions lead to better outcomes. The author tracks the evolution of the design process, treats collaborative and distributed design, and illuminates what makes a truly great designer. He examines the nuts and bolts of design processes, including budget constraints of many kinds, aesthetics, design empiricism, and tools, and grounds this discussion in his own real-world examples-case studies ranging from home construction to IBM's Operating System/360. Throughout, Brooks reveals keys to success that every designer, design project manager, and design researcher should know.

About the Author

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., is Kenan Professor of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology, for his work on IBM’s Operating System/360, and the A. M. Turing Award, for his “landmark contributions to computer architecture, operating systems, and software engineering.” He is the author of the best-selling book The Mythical Man-Month, Anniversary Edition (Addison-Wesley, 1995).

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (April 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0201362988
ISBN-13: 978-0201362985
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 38 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #574,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #291 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Systems Analysis & Design
- #3292 in Books > Textbooks > Engineering
- #3685 in Books > Computers & Technology > Software

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Sergey Trubetskoy

A cohesive look at design

March 5, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

As a UI Designer in the video games industry, this book helped me draw many parallels between our relatively young field and it's more mature parent in traditional software design. In fact our industry's fast and sometimes turbulent rise to the top of the entertainment medium has been forgiving to many of the same mistakes discussed in this book that predecessor design disciplines have long addressed. Things like defining a budgeted resource, weighting design requirements, and the correct use and cataloguing of exemplars are all terms rarely used (from my limited experience) in the offices of a video game development studio.

Not to say there aren't people thinking of these and contributing to the growing academic field of game design. But many of the best video game development practices remain intuitive and undocumented. It is exciting at least, to see how much room for growth there is to grow in such areas. The distilled wisdom of the author's experience in computer hardware and software design, as well as the historical perspective provided in this book have proved invaluable for me. This book has really expanded my big-picture view of the "design" profession as more than just the sum of its parts.

The first chapters provide an illuminating and concise look at the meta-field of design (with a focus on computer hardware and software design) and the models historically developed to describe it. The later chapters on designing a beach house and additional were initially harder to relate to, however important as a personal touch to show the author's own struggles and growth at mastering a new design discipline and (more importantly) documenting his own process with an academic precision that ultimately made them worthwhile.

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JDW

Fundimental collection of experience

April 4, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Brooks style of writing is clear and delivers the critical points of each topic discussed; from OS360 to the family vacation house. Several insightful statements for the mid-level designer/architect and is an exemplar of candidness required amongst those that are responsible for any aspect of systems delivery. Required reading if you are in the systems engineering field.

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Joseph Hurtado

Excellence in Design Explained

June 27, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

An original take on the difficult subject of creative design. Brooks is right all the way, I just wished he knew more about Agile and Lean thinking. But his conclusions align with both. A must read book, full of uncommon insights into the process of creation, and innovation.

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mr z

December 29, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is for people who would like to understand design. The material published here does not contain any secret formulas or silver bullets and it will not solve problems you already have. However, this is a nice coherent summary of the essence of design and this makes it a keeper for me. If anything, after reading this book you will find out what separates great products from mediocre ones.

I'd give it 5 stars it if were not for a boring chapter I ran across a couple of days ago :)

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Ben Shneiderman

Excellent thoughtful and fresh ideas about design done right.

October 9, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Fred Brooks shows his deep thinking and understanding of what design is and why it is so important in software engineering, and in every branch of engineering and science. Infusing design thinking into science will be have a transformative effect, which is very much needed.

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T. Lassagne

A book every designer (of anything) should read

December 23, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Fred Brooks knows a lot about design, and he's good at imparting that knowledge to his readers. This book discusses many aspects of design and the design process. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone who designs software, hardware, houses, or what have you. The principles are valid across the whole spectrum.

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Salvatore R. Mangano

Well Designed!

April 6, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Brook's new book is a worthy successor to the classic Mythical Man-Month. It starts by discussion of the well known waterfall model of design and why this model remains seductive to this day. It then shows its flaws, pragmatic problems with design in the real world and alternative models. Many readers may be familiar with these issues (as I was ) but Brooks digs into a lot of history that you may not know about.

The next sections talk about design as a collaborative process , different perspectives for thinking about design, visions for designing houses, the role of individual design talent (process can't replace greatness!), and how great designers can be nurtured. This part of the book is superb.

The last section is a series of case studies including buildings, a System/360 (naturally), computer architecture, and the design of a joint research facility. This is the one area where the book could have been improved and the reason I did not give it 5 stars. Understandably, Brooks draws on his own experience in picking cases studies but I personally would have liked a bunch of cases studies of application software. I imagine most designers who read this book will be software developers and few will be involved in OS design or design of physical structures. Brooks would argue that there are universal ideas that really make design transcend particular design domains, and in that sense the cases studies he provides are certainly useful. However, it is always easier to learn form a case study that is close to what you actually do yourself.

Overall, Brook's writing style is excellent, entertaining and thoroughly researched so you will not be disappointed.

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Most recent customer reviews

Jose Luis Villarreal Benitez

if you like loopy logic - go ahead it'll make your day

Published on March 27, 2015

Rob S Britton

Five Stars

Well written, very insightful.

Published on March 4, 2015

Zhihao Wu

Five Stars

This is Like New rather than Good to me! Super clean, totally unexpected!

Published on August 23, 2014

Amazon Customer

A clear book for moving firmly into the 1980s and 1990s.

As a big fan of Brooks' "Mythical Man Month," I was eagerly looking forward to reading "The Design of Design.Read more

Published on February 4, 2014

Donald D Hubbard

Five Stars

love it

Published on December 8, 2013

Emre Sevinc

Definitely not required reading for all designers but a pleasant and useful one for some of them nevertheless

For some people there comes a time when they have spent more than five decades in their career and they can have a deep look at various projects they have accomplished, and talk...Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented SoftwareThe Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition)Read more

Published on September 25, 2013

wiredweird

What's good in this is great

Brooks gained wide fame for his 1975 book The Mythical Man-Month. That one book contains clearer expression of so much that goes so wrong in software development than any eight...computer architecture Read more

Published on April 20, 2013

CaliforniaGunNut

Another must read from Brooks

Although not a great as Mythical Man Month, it's another required reading for engineers who are worth a damn. But again, it only helps if you read it and apply it.

Published on January 31, 2013

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