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

— Tom DeMarco Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (1987)

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Leadership

More quotes by Tom DeMarco

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)

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Political leaders are never leaders. For leaders we have to look to the Awakeners! Lao Tse, Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Milarepa, Gurdjiev, Krishnamurti.

Henry Miller My Bike & Other Friends (1977)

It's simply to say that managers and investors alike must understand that accounting numbers is the beginning, not the end, of business valuation.

Warren Buffett Letters to Shareholders (1957)

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

George S. Patton

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

George S. Patton War As I Knew It (1947)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Tom DeMarco (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.