Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
NOTE: use Perl; is on undef hiatus. You can read content, but you can't post it. More info will be forthcoming forthcomingly.

All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

A flaw in Brook's law 3 Comments More | Login | Reply /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More | Login | Reply
Loading... please wait.
  • Actually, Brooks said that with the same caveat that you did. From my notes [perl.org] (not quotes) when I read the book:

    Tasks can be implemented in parallell only if they are independent and require no communication effort on the part of the designers/programmers. If not, the communication effort adds overhead which may overcome the effect of more people.

  • jplindstrom is correct in his reply -- Brooks Law is usually quoted out of conext.

    In justifying his law, Brooks specifically cited the increasing number of interpersonal interfaces (n**2) and the ramp-up time of the new staff (and the concomittant investment required by the existing staff in the new staff's ramp-up. If Rent on a pickup is less than on a bulldozer, or if there's a premium for early completion advantage; or if Supervisors get paid double rate ...)

    Splitting non-core tasks off and out-sourcing
    --
    Bill
    # I had a sig when sigs were cool
    use Sig;
Stories, comments, journals, and other submissions on use Perl; are Copyright 1998-2006, their respective owners.