The Deadline: A Novel about Project ManagementFrom prolific and influential consultant and author Tom DeMarco comes a project management novel that vividly illustrates the principles--and the outright absurdities--that affect the productivity of a software development team. With his trademark wit set free in the novel format, DeMarco centers the plot around the development of six software products. Mr. Tompkins, a manager downsized from a giant telecommunications company, divides the huge staff of developers at his disposal into eighteen teams--three for each of the software products. The teams are different sizes and use different methods, and they compete against each other and against an impossible deadline. With these teams--and with the help of numerous "fictionalized" consultants who come to his aid--Tompkins tests the project management principles he has gathered over a lifetime. Each chapter closes with journal entries that form the core of the eye-opening approaches to management illustrated in this entertaining novel. |
Contents
Opportunity Knocking | 1 |
Standing Up to Kalbfuss | 11 |
Silikon Valejit | 17 |
Copyright | |
14 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
A-Teams Aidrivoli Aidrivoli-1 Air Traffic Control Allair anyway Aristotle Beerzig boss build Caporous conflict course deadline debugging desk Diyeniar door Ex-General Markov exactly eyes feel function points Gabriel give going guess Gulliver hiring Hoolihan hunch hundred interfaces Jamid journal Kalbfuss Kayo Kenoros Korsach Lahksa Latvia least Maestro mean mediation meeting metric Minister Belok modules months Mopoulka Morovia never nodded Okay org chart Orik overtime PERT charts picked PMill-A pressure pretty problem process improvement production rate Project Management PShop QUARKXPRESS QuickerStill Riga Rizzoli schedule simulation six product smiled Software Engineering Institute someone spec staff stared suppose sure talk tell thing thought tion Tomp Tompkins looked Tompkins told trying turned wait Waldo ware product Webster What's Winnipeg wonder