Notably, his essay “no silver bullet” states that there has never been a new technology or way of thinking or working that has led to a 10X increase in the speed of software development.
That was true for almost seventy years until roughly last year.
AI is the silver bullet - my output is genuinely 10X what it was before claude code existed.
As a software engineering manager, I always look to staff up a project at the beginning as much as possible, looking for doing as much in parallel up-front as we can. If some things take longer than expected, then I already have a team of engineers with all the context since the project kicked off that can help each other with any longer running tasks. An engineer that has completed a smaller chunk of work can help out with the items on the critical path, for example.
The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.
For the human makers of things, the incompletenesses and inconsistencies of our ideas become clear only during implementation.
Conceptual integrity is the most important consideration in system design.
There is no single development, in either technology or management technique, which by itself promises even one order-of-magnitude improvement in productivity.
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These ideas still apply very well to modern society.
but,
Personally, I hope science advances to the point where nine women really can have a baby in parallel.
We may need that to prevent demographic collapse and keep the pension system from running out of money.
Indeed a lot of things have changed. A worthwhile exercise is to read the book, contemplate how things have changed, and try to map lessons from the book onto modern technology and organizational practices. A LOT of the core principles are still relevant IMO, even if many of the implementation details are not.
[delayed]
Notably, his essay “no silver bullet” states that there has never been a new technology or way of thinking or working that has led to a 10X increase in the speed of software development.
That was true for almost seventy years until roughly last year.
AI is the silver bullet - my output is genuinely 10X what it was before claude code existed.
10x the amount of code or features =/= 10x the speed of software development.
If AI is the silver bullet, I do not understand why so many shot-up projects are still wandering around the freelance market.
10x would only be possible if your output was low before Claude Code
I've found that I can have 10x output, so long as I don't expect anyone to review your code...
For your sake I hope that your pay is determined by your “output”, and not your long-term usefulness.
As a software engineering manager, I always look to staff up a project at the beginning as much as possible, looking for doing as much in parallel up-front as we can. If some things take longer than expected, then I already have a team of engineers with all the context since the project kicked off that can help each other with any longer running tasks. An engineer that has completed a smaller chunk of work can help out with the items on the critical path, for example.
The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.
For the human makers of things, the incompletenesses and inconsistencies of our ideas become clear only during implementation.
Conceptual integrity is the most important consideration in system design.
There is no single development, in either technology or management technique, which by itself promises even one order-of-magnitude improvement in productivity.
---
These ideas still apply very well to modern society. but, Personally, I hope science advances to the point where nine women really can have a baby in parallel.
We may need that to prevent demographic collapse and keep the pension system from running out of money.
Once we ditch our centrally controlled economies perhaps life can be affordable enough to not prevent willing parents from having children.
I think Brooks would call that an optimistic schedule estimate.
Look, I read it and loved it 25 hyears ago.
Fred Brooks wrote that book when they were programming IBM operating systems in assembly language.
Times have really, really changed - do not pay attention to the messages of this book unless for historical fun.
The lessons in that book have broadly held true for nearly every single one of my employers throughout the entirety of my career.
Indeed a lot of things have changed. A worthwhile exercise is to read the book, contemplate how things have changed, and try to map lessons from the book onto modern technology and organizational practices. A LOT of the core principles are still relevant IMO, even if many of the implementation details are not.
Your comment and the OP both mention some things that are outdated about the book. What are those things?
IMHO, Brooks's Law applies more today than ever.
I was half expecting Fowler to tie it in to right-sizing agent teams.
Our field is full of vague, terrible opinions and useless advice. Arrogant people that think they're better than others.
That book isn't, it's built from humility and a rare bright light in this god forsaken field.
The book is good. As you say, the author, Fred Brooks, is not at all arrogant.
Martin Fowler, the author of the blog, may be a bit different than that.