The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management - Softcover

Winner of a Software Development Jolt! Productivity Award

From prolific and influential consultant and author Tom DeMarco comes a project management novel that vividly illustrates the principles -- and the outright absurdities -- that affect the productivity of a software development team.

With his trademark wit set free in the novel format, DeMarco centers the plot around the development of six software products. Mr. Tompkins, a manager downsized from a giant telecommunications company, divides the huge staff of developers at his disposal into eighteen teams -- three for each of the products. The teams are of different sizes and use different methods, and they compete against each other . . . and against an impossible deadline.

With these teams, and with the help of numerous consultants who come to his aid, Mr. Tompkins tests the project management principles he has gathered over a lifetime. Key chapters end with journal entries that form the core of the eye-opening approaches to management illustrated in this entertaining novel.