| "Here's a management book which is just plain fun to read.
The Deadline is an innovative and entertaining story with insightful business
principles for team-based project management at the end of each chapter." —Atlantic
Systems Guild
"Since most software managers rise from the
ranks of programmers, and consequently don't have a clue about project management,
the situation is ripe for teaching by example. That's what Tom DeMarco addresses
with The Deadlne. . . .entertaining—and simultaneously instructive.
. . . many valuable techniques. —Warren Keuffel
Software Development
"The Deadline is dead
on. It is a must-read, fun-read for anyone who has ever been, or will ever be,
involved in a software project. Tom DeMarco has packaged the collective wisdom
and hard-fought lessons learned of leading software prophets, gurus, and oracles
into this tantalizing, insightful, and flat-out entertaining 'novel.'" —Will
Tracz
ACM Software Engineering Notes
"Here's a management book which is just plain fun to read. The Deadline
is an innovative and entertaining story with insightful business principles for
team-based project management at the end of each chapter." —John
Sculley
"When people set out to impart
the kind of common sense that is all too often missing in the software business,
they generally sound preachy and smug. Tom has avoided this pitfall through the
artful use of stories. He has also tied in enough conflict and tension to get
the reader's interest. All in all, this is a relaxing and informative read." —Watts
S. Humphrey
"The book is entertaining and enduring, as developers
will recognize most of their development problems. . . "Not only is
it entertaining, but you can even learn some management skills in the process." —Charles
Ashbacher
Charles Ashbacher Technologies
posted on Amazon.com
". . . it's a technological tour de
force. It covers a wide range of topics, from project estimating to metrics, from
conflict resolution to dealing with ambiguous specifications. . . . the bullet
points alone are worth the price of the book. . . . The Deadline is almost
as funny as a book full of Dilbert cartoons, but it's far less cynical. More important,
it contains some profound wisdom, and some practical, positive advice for
improving the chances of meeting your next project deadline. I highly recommend
it." —Ed Yourdon
American Programmer
"Tom
DeMarco once again gleefully peels away the onion layers of management issues
with a humanity and insight that translate as easily into corporate general management
as they do into the management of of software projects and teams. In The Deadline,
he gives us a chuckle of a book, rich with both the absurdities of our daily work
lives and with metric devices that can help us manage and perform better. It's
the Function Points, stupid!" —Bruce Taylor
Founding Publisher
Imaging World Magazine
"A
humorous, fictionalized look at software development . . . offers a balanced approach
to project management. The author rightly pinpoints people as the essential foundation
of all successful projects." —Quality Digest
"I read this book . . . and was immediately impressed with how DeMarco successfully
ties software project management and software quality together in a captivating
manner. I could see the relevance to both current software professionals and to
those aspiring to work in the field. As a professor, I decided to incorporate
it into my software quality management class . . . "This book review is
different from others in that the majority of the review consists of comments
from my students. . . . Following are their responses. "'This book is very
valuable. It gives a real-life view of problems that can come up for a large project.
. . . DeMarco does a fantastic job of showing the reader how to solve problems.
He covers numerous aspects such as team size, conflict resolution, design, emotions,
pathological politics, metrics, and so on to teach the reader the most efficient
ways to run a project properly. This book taught me a lot and was also fun to
read.' "'The book made me realize a lot of important concepts and made me
think a lot, too. I didn't just read it — I would think about how I would
react in some of the given situations . . . ' "' . . . This book is an innovative
way of approaching project management, and DeMarco turns what could be a painfully
dry subject into anything but that.'" —Dr. Patricia
McQuaid
Associate Professor of Management Information Systems,
California Polytechnic State University
Software Quality Professional
"In
many ways, this book is a companion to The Mythical Man-Month. For example,
Mr. Tompkins tests the "throw people at a project to meet an accelerated schedule"
theory (any guesses as to the outcome?). And like TMMM, The Deadline,
while positioned as a technology book, contains lessons for all managers. Both
preach the importance of planning. . . . "Short chapters,
quick read, lots of laughter, lessons without the cynicism of Dilbert or
UserFriendly, summary points for review. Much to recommend it, for the
principles apply to any management, not just that of software development. . .
. "What is new is Demarco's use of humor and storytelling
to evangelize the concepts (and rewards) of good management. When can you remember
laughing out loud while reading a management book? For that alone, the book is
a worthwhile addition to any manager's library." —Kathy
E. Gill
ITG Newsletter
"For
all of you that have been looking for a novel about software development that
really gets to the guts of the business this is it. The Deadline by Tom
DeMarco is a rare breed of fiction that contains not only a story but charts and
diagrams. . . . "We are left with a sense that opportunity
only exists in the moment and that the real reason why we work is only to learn
because learning is what fills every experience we have with meaning." —Michael
Guajardo
Agile Alliance
".
. . I enjoyed The Deadline and I learned some cool things from it. . .
. The Deadline, as a teaching technique, works for me. Like Aesop's fables, it
gives me a memory-hook for each of the points about people and projects and management
that DeMarco wants to make." —Sue Petersen
Visual Developer
"This is a totally
different way of looking at project management -- one that is neither dry nor
boring. And while the story is packaged as an amusing novel -- there is much to
be learned. Briefly put: The Deadline is a book in which the author, Tom
DeMarco, effortlessly crosses the divide between entertaining and professional
content. . . . "Following each chapter, Tom Demarco uses
management fundamentals to summarize the events. Thanks to this, and the easy-to-read,
novel platform, various terms are easier to visualize and understand than they
would be in books that only deal with the technical aspects of project management." —inGenics
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