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Haven't heard of Edward Yourdon, so Google'd. Since you are familiar, can you comment on this: http://sunsite.uakom.sk/sunworldonline/swol-07-1997/swol-07-boo

• russell 15y ago
  It's a good read, but it's nearly 15 years old and there may not be enough context to where Yourdon was coming from. Almost as much time has passed since this essay was written as there was in Yourdon' career up to Death March. Much has happened since then. No one uses heavyweight methodologies, like UML. Processes are light and agile. Languages like Java, Python, and Ruby are way better, as are the associated tools. I consider the 1-week release cycle the biggest contributor to productivity. It's ancient history. Lessons have been learned.
  • watmough 15y ago
    Maybe at the leading edge, but I joined a death-march project in 2004, then left another one in 2008. And I believe that many young programmers are still being thrown onto late projects. I'd really love to believe that UML is dead, but can it really be true? cite?
• shaggyfrog 15y ago
  The biggest takeaway from Death March for me was that politics can dominate everything else in a project. Learning the skills to identify political nonsense, understanding how it got that way and what options you have (and sometimes that meansno options at all) is something programmers should learn as soon as possible. To be honest, I had forgotten the book contained anything about heavyweight process methodology. I'll have to grab it out of the shelf when I get home.