The Deadline: A Novel about Project Management

This book follows a project manager (Webster Tompkins) from the time he becomes a "ReSOE" (Released to Seek Opportunities Elsewhere) from the Big Telephone and Telegraph copmpany. Tompkins is made an offer he can't refuse to take the roll of project manager of a seemingly un-doable software development task.Tom DeMarco manages to squeeze a tremendous amount or project management advice into this 300 page novel. I was hooked by the end of the first chapter. This is a great read for anyone who is tired of reading management handbooks or software development manuals, but still wants to stay in the same area, like a lawyer reading the new Grisham novel. It's a perfect book for nightime or airplane reading.

Like economics, the discipline of software development suffers from a weakness that prevents the resolution of competing theories, in that it is generally impossible to perform controlled experiments. It would take an extremely brave manager to ever try out two competing development theories by having two teams build the same product simultaneously. However, it is possible to borrow a technique from theoretical physics and perform thought experiments. Such an experiment would involve having more than one team develop the same product simultaneously, but using different techniques. That type of experiment is the premise of this novel. The main character is a recent victim of downsizing who is kidnapped and taken to a formerly communist country where the educational level is high and the costs are low. Once there, he succumbs to his fantasies and agrees to perform the experiment of his dreams. With six products to build and a large staff of developers, he splits them into eighteen groups where each product is being built by three teams simultaneously. Each group of the three then uses a different development method. Throw in impossible deadlines and you have a microcosm of software development. It would appear that such a premise would guarantee a boring book, but nothing could be further from the truth. The book is entertaining and enduring, as developers will recognize most of their development problems, albeit couched in somewhat unique circumstances. Many of the leading figures in the theory of software development management make cameo appearances, including a certain very rich man. The end result is a true stroke of genius that has somewhat of a surprise ending, but actually quite natural, given the current climate in the computer business. It is rare when a book about the management of software development is not as dull as baked dirt, and this book is indeed the exception. Not only is it entertaining, but you can even learn some management skills in the process.

This was really a great reading book. Tom Demarco takes what can be a very tedious subject to read about and makes it interesting. I was so pulled into the story that I had a hard time putting it down. I would find myself sitting up at 2 and 3 in the morning still reading this book. As entertaining as it was, it was also very informative. I have been in the IT Industry 10 years and in Project Mgmt. for almost 4 years now and found the key points and "diary entries" at the end of each chapter to be an excellent guide to all who wish to be successful at managing people and projects. Whether you are new to the ranks of project mgmt. or a seasoned veteran, I think this book has plenty to teach us all. Oh, and I did love the inferences to "Himself".....wonder who he really is???

Mr. Demarco's book is an easy, entertaining read. It can be consumed in an evening with very little effort. In the guise of the protagonist's diary entries, Demarco instructs the reader on the finer points of software project management. Humor and a cutting wit are two more of Demarco's strong points. There is more practical information in this little book than in any 10 textbooks on the subject. It is now a part of my library (if I can ever get it back - people keep borrowing it!).

I can not thank you enough for writing this book. The content of the book was not only completetly relevant but so insightful into a topic (sw project management) that is grossly ignored by many people who are in charge of large projects and groups of developers. My experience (7 yrs as a developer) has been that experienced programmers end up "managing" projects. The problem is that they have spent their time developing software and do not seem to know anything about managing a project. The Deadline addressed the important issues of software project management head on by presenting problems to be solved and ways of solving them not just with ideas by specific methods. Not only did I appreciate the material but the format of the book may it enjoyable to read. For a software developer who is starting to realize how much more there is to software development than wich language you know this book is a necessity.