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Tom DeMarco

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://www.tomdemarco.com

Genre

Fiction, Science Fiction, Business

Member Since

January 2017

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Tom DeMarco is the author of fifteen books, including five novels, a collection of short stories and the rest business books. His most recent work is a seemingly jinxed love story, The One-Way Time Traveler.

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Before that he wrote Dark Harbor House, and before that Slack and Peopleware and The Deadline. ...more

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Tom DeMarco’s books

Average rating: 4.1 · 14,754 ratings · 992 reviews · 33 distinct works • Similar authors

	Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco (Goodreads Author), Timothy Lister 4.14 avg rating — 9,928 ratings — published 1987 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Deadline 4.15 avg rating — 2,551 ratings — published 1997 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency 4.02 avg rating — 1,640 ratings — published 2001 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects by Tom DeMarco (Goodreads Author), Timothy Lister 3.98 avg rating — 782 ratings — published 2003 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior by Tom DeMarco (Goodreads Author), Peter Hruschka, Timothy R. Lister 3.97 avg rating — 310 ratings — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The One-Way Time Traveler 4.07 avg rating — 122 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Why Does Software Cost So Much?: And Other Puzzles of the Information Age 3.69 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 1995 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Structured Analysis and System Specification by Tom DeMarco (Goodreads Author), P.J. Plauger (Adapted by) 3.62 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 1978 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams 4.33 avg rating — 18 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Controlling Software Projects: Management, Measurement and Estimation 3.72 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 1982 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Tom DeMarco

Darkworld Chronicles (2 books)
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Tom DeMarco (Goodreads Author)

3.23 avg rating — 22 ratings

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Tom DeMarco is currently reading

What We Can Know

by Ian McEwan (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Feb 26, 2026 04:29PM

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Tom DeMarco rated a book it was ok Flesh by David Szalay	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
David Szalay’s novel, Flesh, won the 2025 Booker Prize. For my first extended visit to Tokyo, my point of departure was San Francisco. On the drive in from Tokyo’s Narita airport, I was struck by the contrast between the two cities: San Francisco’s be ...more
Feb 28, 2026 08:56AM · 1 like · like · see review
Tom DeMarco rated a book really liked it The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Before diving into Bostwick’s novel, I happened to see a blurb that summed up the story as “Things begin to change when they form a book club . . . and read Betty Friedan's just-released book, The Feminine Mystique.” Oh dear, I thought, how predictab ...more
Feb 27, 2026 11:37AM · like · see review
Tom DeMarco is currently reading What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Fiction	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 26, 2026 04:29PM · like
Tom DeMarco rated a book it was ok Flesh by David Szalay	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
David Szalay’s novel, Flesh, won the 2025 Booker Prize. For my first extended visit to Tokyo, my point of departure was San Francisco. On the drive in from Tokyo’s Narita airport, I was struck by the contrast between the two cities: San Francisco’s be ...more
Feb 26, 2026 07:18AM · 1 like · like · see review
Tom DeMarco rated a book it was amazing The Grizzlies and Us by Lynne Seus	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Imagine, if you can, a book so full of unique lived experience that only one person on earth could have written it. Imagine further that the author’s unique experience is so upbeat, so full of fun and purpose, that your vicarious experience of the he ...more
Dec 05, 2025 08:28AM · like · see review
Tom DeMarco rated a book it was amazing Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Julian Fellowes is best known for Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, both of which take place pre-WWI or between the wars. Both were admirable enough, but Past Imperfect is his masterpiece. The book is in the form of a quest. It shifts back and forth ...more
Mar 10, 2024 12:37PM · like · see review

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Quotes by Tom DeMarco (?)

“The manager’s function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work.”
― Tom DeMarco, Peopleware : Productive Projects and Teams

16 likes

“The fundamental response to change is not logical, but emotional.”
― Tom DeMarco, Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams

11 likes

“Quality takes time and reduces quantity, so it makes you, in a sense, less efficient. The efficiency-optimized organization recognizes quality as its enemy. That's why many corporate Quality Programs are really Quality Reduction Programs in disguise.”
― Tom DeMarco, Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency

tags: 2001, quality, quality-assurance, quality-control, quality-over-quantity, quality-vs-quantity, total-quality

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