<programming> "Adding manpower to a late software project
makes it later" - a result of the fact that the expected
advantage from splitting work among N programmers is O(N)
(that is, proportional to N), but the complexity and
communications cost associated with coordinating and then
merging their work is O(N^2) (that is, proportional to the
square of N).
The quote is from Fred Brooks, a manager of IBM's OS/360
project and author of "The Mythical Man-Month".
The myth in question has been most tersely expressed as
"Programmer time is fungible" and Brooks established
conclusively that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his
advice; too often, management still does.
See also creationism, second-system effect, optimism.
[Jargon File]
(1996-09-17)
Nearby terms:
broken arrow « broker « broket « Brooks's Law » brouter » Brouwer Fixed-Point Theorem » Brown and Sharpe Wire Gauge
