"The manager's function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work."

Tom DeMarco Technology See all quotes by Tom DeMarco →

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“A day lost at the beginning of project hurts just as much as a day lost at the end.”

“While the machines have changed enormously, the business of software development has been rather static.”

“You can't control what you can't measure”

“It's not what you don't know that kills you but what you know that isn't so.”

“People under pressure don’t work better; they just work faster.”

“The business of software building isn't really high-tech at all. It's most of all a business of talking to each other and writing things down. Those who were making major contributions to the field were more likely to be its best communicators than its best technicians.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I may be controversial, but my allegiance is to people outside the Beltway."

— Howard Dean

Politics1948

#Human Nature

"I do not believe, in spite of all this, that the people of this country have abandoned their faith in the qualities and characteristics which made them a great people. Not a bit of it. We are still th…"

— Margaret Thatcher

Politics1925–2013

#ethics

"This, of course, is the special field of usefulness for colored men and women who find the opportunity to get adequate education. Their own people need their help, guidance, leadership, and inspiratio…"

— Calvin Coolidge

Politics1780–1853

#leadership

"Some people have called the book the "bible of software engineering". I would agree with that in one respect: that is, everybody quotes it, some people read it, and a few people go by it."

— Fred Brooks

Science1931–2022

#books