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Tom DeMarco Quotes

born 1940 United States

Tom DeMarco (born 20 August 1940) is a well-known author, teacher, and speaker on software engineering topics. He was the 1986 recipient of the Warnier Prize for "lifetime contribution to the field of computing," and the 1999 recipient of the Stevens Award for "contribution to the methods of software development".

United States
Business theorists
Computer scientists
Educators
Orators

Also known as: DeMarco, Tom

Random Tom DeMarco quote

8 quotes

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

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (1987)

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

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (1987)

Quality is free, but only to those who are willing to pay heavily for it.

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (1987)

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

The Deadline (1997)

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

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (1987)

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

The Deadline (1997)

You can't control what you can't measure

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.

Why Does Software Cost So Much?: And Other Puzzles of the Information Age (1995)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Tom DeMarco (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.