5 ms·

Very shallow article. Tl;dr: none. I would say that the mythical man month concept has stayed and still is talked about today even though the book itself is al

Very shallow article. Tl;dr: none. I would say that the mythical man month concept has stayed and still is talked about today even though the book itself is also hopelessly outdated except maybe in IBM style enterprise software.

Lapsa 5y ago
stopped reading at "when I wrote my book"
mavelikara 5y ago
> even though the book itself is also hopelessly outdated What parts did you find dated? I haven't read it in the last few years, but I still get reminded of concepts like Second System Effect every once in a while.
ardit33 5y ago
It was actually an interesting read. TLDR: Whatever software building methodology/process you are using now, is probably crap, and made up by people that don't really know any better and just making things on the go. Eg. He mentioned 'structured programing' was a fad at the time. Now it is Agile, and its offshoots. Best way to deliver software is to have a handful of capable people and pay them well and get out of their way. The key to get paid well as a dev. is to be in a project that is important, life/death for the company. I think the most interesting part of the article was the early job divisions while building software. It didn't make sense, but it was adopted due to the coorporate culture of the time.
- martininmelb 5y ago
  > Best way to deliver software is to have a handful of capable people and pay them well and get out of their way. That is the gist of one of the essays in The Mythical Man Month mentioned in the parent.
- anyfoo 5y ago
  "Structured programming" was 100% successful, and we're all still using it, all the time. It was so successful, that we don't even talk about it anymore. With few exceptions, it's just how programming is now. Does not invalidate your actual point, though.
  - fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
    Yeah, the nearly-complete absence of GOTO in the programming languages people actually use is proof of this.

Lapsa 5y ago

stopped reading at "when I wrote my book"

mavelikara 5y ago

> even though the book itself is also hopelessly outdated What parts did you find dated? I haven't read it in the last few years, but I still get reminded of concepts like Second System Effect every once in a while.

ardit33 5y ago

It was actually an interesting read. TLDR: Whatever software building methodology/process you are using now, is probably crap, and made up by people that don't really know any better and just making things on the go. Eg. He mentioned 'structured programing' was a fad at the time. Now it is Agile, and its offshoots. Best way to deliver software is to have a handful of capable people and pay them well and get out of their way. The key to get paid well as a dev. is to be in a project that is important, life/death for the company. I think the most interesting part of the article was the early job divisions while building software. It didn't make sense, but it was adopted due to the coorporate culture of the time.

martininmelb 5y ago
> Best way to deliver software is to have a handful of capable people and pay them well and get out of their way. That is the gist of one of the essays in The Mythical Man Month mentioned in the parent.
anyfoo 5y ago
"Structured programming" was 100% successful, and we're all still using it, all the time. It was so successful, that we don't even talk about it anymore. With few exceptions, it's just how programming is now. Does not invalidate your actual point, though.
- fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
  Yeah, the nearly-complete absence of GOTO in the programming languages people actually use is proof of this.