Subject: another book suggestion
Thu Aug 13 09:56:48 1998



i've been on a binge-reading spree lately.   it's a habit that kicks in
during times of stress, and a fairly good barometer of my mental state..
when i go through _Atlas Shrugged_ in one sitting, i'm in a BAD mood.

anyhoo, i finally picked up a copy of Tom DeMarco's _The Deadline_
yesterday, and started flipping through it after dinner.   by the end of
the first page, i was hooked, and didn't stop flipping pages until there
were no more left to flip.   this is quite simply the most readable,
accessible, and downright enjoyable handbook on the subject of project
management that i've ever seen.


the book is structured as a novel, following the adventures of a project
manager who's kidnapped and smuggled to a tiny Balkan nation called
Moldovia, which has been taken over in a leveraged buyout.   the Noble
National Leader (NNL) is an anonymous computer geek with big glasses, a
reedy voice, and a Twinkie fixation.   he got sick of people always
telling him "look, Bill, we just can't make that deadline" in his
previous job, and decided to try being a literal dictator for a while.  
NNL has decided that Moldovia will be the top exporter of shrink-wrap
software by the year 2000, and has acquired the hero to make that
happen.

the rest of the book is similarly allegorical.. it's sort of the
_Pilgrim's Progress_ of project management.   it's a charming book, and
is screamingly funny, because DeMarco uses it to pull faces at all sorts
of prominent figures in the fields of software development and project
management.   there's even a cameo for Edward Yourdon, the author of
_Death March_ which i suggested last time:

   "I am The Great Yordini!"
   "Oh right, the fortune-teller."
   "Futurist, dammit!"
   "Whatever.."


the most impressive thing about the book is that DeMarco packs more
detailed, verifiable information about managing projects.. staffing,
scheduling, designing, keeping developers motivated, and dealing with
idiots overhead (*not* the NNL, interestingly.. he's portrayed as a
slightly bumbling nice guy with a feral underling who runs finance) into
every page than i've seen in entire books written the traditional way.


if you want to run any kind of project that involves more than one
person, run.. do not walk.. to your nearest bookstore and pick up a 
copy of:

   _The Deadline_  by Tom DeMarco