Quality is free, but only to those who are willing to pay heavily for it. Tom DeMarco More Quotes by Tom DeMarco More Quotes From Tom DeMarco Computer system analysis is like child-rearing; you can do grievous damage, but you cannot ensure success. Tom DeMarco damageanalysischildren Get the right people. Then no matter what all else you might do wrong after that, the people will save you. That's what management is all about. Tom DeMarco teamleaderpeople You can't control what you can't measure Tom DeMarco There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. Tom DeMarco live-lifeprocrastinationinspiring The manager's function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work. Tom DeMarco working-itfunctionpeople Visual supervision is a joke for development workers. Visual supervision is for prisoners. Tom DeMarco supervisionprisonerdevelopment If you find yourself concentrating on the technology rather than the sociology, you're like the vaudeville character who loses his keys on a dark street and looks for them on the adjacent street because, as he explains, "The light is better there." Tom DeMarco technologydarkcharacter The more you focus on control, the more likely you're working on a project that's striving to deliver something of relatively minor value. Tom DeMarco striveprojectsfocus The purpose of a team is not goal attainment but goal alignment. Tom DeMarco teampurposegoal The pathology of setting a deadline to the earliest articulable date essentially guarantees that the schedule will be missed. Tom DeMarco guarantees-thatpathologyschedules Organizational busy work tends to expand to fill the working day. Tom DeMarco busy-workorganizationalbusy Product quality has almost nothing to do with defects or their lack. Tom DeMarco programmingbugsquality First law of Bad Management: If something isn't working, do more of it. Tom DeMarco managementlawfirsts If nothing is declared unchangeable, then the organization will resist all change. Tom DeMarco unchangeableorganizationifs Training is practice doing a new task much more slowly than an expert would do it. Tom DeMarco trainingpracticeexperts Some of the most flowery praise you hear on the subject of teams is only hypocrisy. Managers learn to talk a good game about teams even when they're secretly threatened by the whole concept. Tom DeMarco teamhypocrisygames What we are looking for is managers who are awake enough to alter the world as they find it, to make it harmonize with what they and their people are trying to accomplish. Tom DeMarco teamleaderpeople The fundamental response to change is not logical, but emotional. Tom DeMarco logicalemotionalfundamentals The QSM Software Almanac is an invaluable resource. It establishes a norm for software projects, including best of class, worst of class and averages. In addition, it profiles the state of the art of software construction and enhancement. I wish I'd had this wonderful reference book years ago. Tom DeMarco averagebookart
