The Mythical Man-Month Ch. 18-19

The Mythical Man-Month
Ch. 18-19
Brooks, Frederick P
Addison-Wesley, 1995

Summary:

The author begins chapter 19 by discussing how the mythical man month applies not only to software engineering teams but to teams of all backgrounds. The author then goes into detail about the importance of conceptual integrity in software. Projects with fewer designers typically have more conceptual integrity and are better designed as a result. For example, off the shelf software products often suffer from a low conceptual integrity because they are built to appeal to a wide audience rather than being architected for an express purpose.

The author also discusses the recent success of the WIMP model (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers) in computing. However, due to WIMP's limitations the author believes that it will soon be replaced with a new model.

The author also came to an important realization about his initial suggestions to plan to throw the first design away. The author now endorses building the system incrementally, testing each individual component as it is added to the system.

The author ends the reading by noting the dramatic rise of personal computers and software that are available to the public today. When the book was originally written, the author focused on custom built software that would not be available to the public. However, the increased amount of customers that software developers have today allows them to receive a large amount of feedback on their products but also requires them to test more thoroughly before releasing it.

Discussion:

This reading is important because it discusses how software has changed since the book was originally written. The author discusses many important trends in software engineering and offers his ideas on the future. I disagree with the author's ideas that the wimp model will be obsolete. I believe that portions of the model, such as the pointer, may be phased out but many of the core components will stay. This reading can be used by anyone in a software engineering team environment.