The relevant context, is the essay, "No Silver Bullet—Essence and Accident in Software Engineering" - Fred Brooks, 1986. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver

The relevant context, is the essay, "No Silver Bullet—Essence and Accident in Software Engineering" - Fred Brooks, 1986. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet See also "The Mythical Man-Month" by the same author. Mr Cooper's point is that these same arguments still apply, we still need to distinguish accidental complexity from essential complexity, and understanding the problem from solving the problem with code, and authorship from ownership and maintenance. And we would do well to revisit these arguments at source.