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

by Tom DeMarco

dust cover intact. pages unmarked.

Genres: Business, Management, Software, Technical, Technology

237 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1995

About the author

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.



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

Reviews

[Jeff Keehr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because I enjoyed The Deadline and PeopleWare, which was co-authored by DeMarco. The essay for which the book is titled is short and excellent, if a little quirky. The other essays are interesting and enlightening. I think the one titled "Mad about Measurement" is one of the best.

[Pete Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I saw so many similarities to very recent concepts, such as Joel Spolsky's Evidenced Based Scheduling approach. I thought his insights into software were extremely fresh for a book that was written in 1995 and a guy that worked with Ed Yourdon (Structured Programming). Would definitely consider Tom DeMarco one of the best thought leaders in Software Development Lifecycle, though his focus seems to be more on testing. Guess that makes sense, without testing, "do you really have a working software development lifecycle". The more references I stumble on about Tom DeMarco, the more I like him. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/...

[Erika RS · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book written nearly 20 years ago -- in 1995 -- this book has a lot of fresh insights. The book has a lot of good ideas about the people side of software development. Common threads throughout these essays are integrity and practicality. DeMarco cares about doing what works -- and to have success in the long term, what works need to involve integrity in leadership, team work, measurement, and every other aspect of the development process. All that said, there are some essays that are quite dated, hence the 3/5.

[Adnan Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The issues that plagued the software development world are the same today as they were 15 years ago. The technology has changed, the attitudes haven't. The patterns of failure are the same.

[Adam Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delighted read from a clearly experienced writer! As a young software developer in a "modern" age of IT, this was hilarious to read, but also a learning experience!

[Jeff Youngstrom]

(April 24, 2002)