Comments on Mythical Man-Month: Chapter 3

Chapter 3. The Surgical Team

3.1 Very good professional programmers are ten times as productive as poor ones, at same training and two-year experience level. (Sackman, Grant, and Erickson)

Intuitively, I grant that, and so am very willing to accept the data.

3.2 Jackman, Grant, and Erickson's data showed no correlation whatsoever between experience and performance. I doubt the universality of that result.

Yes, I'm sure it 'depends'. For example on specific skills like, numerical analysis or parsing or functional programming I'm sure experience helps a lot.

3.3 A small sharp team is best-as few minds as possible.

This is too vague and too unsupported by any data. Why wouldn't a larger team of very sharp minds work (working on different parts)? How about a team with sharp designers and plodding implementers? How about...well...how about just stick with 'small' (forget 'sharp' assuming that's a constant). How small?...

3.4 A team of two, with one leader, is often the best use of minds. (Note God's plan for marriage.)

- Re: marriage - WJW. I'll cut him some slack because he wrote this in the seventies. Um..actually this summary was written in 2001.

- let's just accept it for what it is. I don't doubt this is a report of his experience but could be too swayed by anecdotal evidence (one example stands out too well in his mind).

3.5 A small sharp team is too slow for really big systems.

Contradicts 3.3. So this must just be saying 'small sharp team for ...anything but a really big system (and then you need more?)'. I don't get it. I need a definition of 'small' and 'large'.

3.6 Most experiences with really large systems show the brute-force approach to scaling up to be costly, slow, in- efficient, and to produce systems that are not conceptually integrated.

 maybe. I don't have much experience with 'really' large systems or scaling up for that mattter.

3.7 A chief-programmer, surgical-team organization offers a way to get the product integrity of few minds and the total productivity of many helpers, with radically reduced communication.

Sure...I'll accept as stated.