Name: The Deadline
ISBN: 9780932633392

The Deadline

Any software project that's worth starting will be vulnerable to risk. Since greater risks bring greater rewards, a company that runs away from risk will soon find itself lagging behind its more adventurous competition. By ignoring the threat of negative outcomes---in the name of positive thinking or a Can-Do attitude---software managers drive their organizations into the ground. In Waltzing with Bears, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister---the best-selling authors of Peopleware---show readers how to identify and embrace worthwhile risks. Developers are then set free to push the limits. You'll find that risk management makes aggressive risk-taking possible; protects management from getting blindsided; provides minimum-cost downside protection; reveals invisible transfers of responsibility; isolates the failure of a subproject---readers are taught to identify the most common risks faced by software projects: schedule flaws; requirements inflation; turnover; specification breakdown; and under-performance. Packed with provocative insights, real-world examples, and project-saving tips, Waltzing with Bears is your guide to mitigating the risks---before they turn into problems.

What Hacker News says

NiceAdviceMay 2025

I'm a big fan of The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management by Tom DeMarco.

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webmavenJun 2021

'The Deadline: A novel about project management' by Tom DeMarco

Critical Chain by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

The Unicorn Project by Gene Kim (sequel to the Phoenix Project)

Makers by Cory Doctorow

Daemon & Freedom™ by Daniel Suarez

The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson

The Blue Ant trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History) by William Gibson

Omnitopia: Dawn by Diane Duane

Walkaway by Cory Doctorow

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

Lock In by John Scalzi

Rascal Money by Joseph Garber

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webmavenJul 2020

So many good book recommendations here, but no one has mentioned Tom DeMarco's The Deadline: https://books.google.com/books?id=5_kJAQAAMAAJ&printsec=fron...

In style and content, it's a bit like an older version of "The Phoenix Project" that was focused on delivering packaged software, and mostly oriented around a "stocks and flows" model of the development process.

The framing narrative is much more amusing, though.

Also worth reading Edward Yourdon's Death March:

https://books.google.com/books?id=FdAZUX9H_gAC&printsec=fron...

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taprunJan 2020

I'm a big fan of DeMarco's The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management. It's very accessible and covers many important issues.

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mindcrimeAug 2018

Ship It, and all the other books in that series from Pragmatic Press. Code Complete and Rapid Code by McConnell. The Deadline by DeMarco. Agile Software Development with Scrum by Schwaber. Peopleware by DeMarco. Slack by DeMarco.

Anything by Ed Yourdon.

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jacques_chesterJul 2013

It's fascinating how much of this is a reinvention of classic meeting technique.

"Define the objective of the meeting" --> Have an agenda.

"Identify who is driving" --> Have a Chairman (Chairwoman, Chairperson, Facilitator, whatever).

"Assign someone to take notes" --> Have a Secretary.

"Summarize key action items, deliverables and points of accountability" --> Publish minutes of the meeting.

I used to be involved in student politics. Mastery of meeting procedure is a tactical weapon in that sphere, but even when they are being abused, Rules of Order are effective at keeping ... order.

Having an agenda and attentive chairmanship go together. The role of the Chair is to ensure that the meeting proceeds according to the rules and doesn't stray from the agenda. This often means not contributing.

A key reason to stick to the agenda no matter what is given in Tom DeMarco's amusing novel The Deadline. If you don't stick to the agenda but still make binding decisions, then everyone has to attend every meeting to guard against the possibility that a decision affecting them will be made in their absence.

If there is an ironclad guarantee that agenda will be followed come hell or high water, then only folk who are required at a meeting will show up. That saves a lot of time and breeds a lot of confidence.

To learn more, you can join Toastmasters or The Penguin Club. You might also join a political party, a professional society, a union, community groups like Rotary, Apex, Lions and so on. There are many good books on meeting procedure, they're worth reading to get the basics down.

This guide is brief, but gives you a taste of classical meeting technique works, in the context of incorporated associations:

http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/associationsguide/Content/06_M...

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