Tom DeMarco

A partner in Atlantic Systems Guild, an IT consulting company with offices in the US and the UK and Senior Consultant in Cutter Consortium. In 1986 he received a Warner Award for a “lifetime contribution in computerization field”. He started his career in Bell Telephone laboratories where he took part in a legendary ESS-1 project. Later on he leaded the real time project for La CEGOS In-formatique in France. He was responsible for distribution of network banking system in Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Finland. He was a lecturer and consultant in America, Europe, Africa, Australia and Far East. Tom DeMarco is a University of Cornell BSEE graduate, a University of Columbia M.S. graduate and a graduate from The University of Paris-Sorbonne. He now lives in Camden, ME. He’s most recognized book is “The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management”. His earlier publications include:“ Why Does Software Cost So Much?” with Tim Lister, “PEOPLEWARE: Pro-ductive Projects and Teams” and others. He is also the author of over a hundred articles and documents on management and system development processes.

Cool it!

PIOTR W. FUGLEWICZ

Until Carthage is rebuilt or obligatory final exam in math will be re-established in high schools – no matter what comes first – I will keep reminding you about the absolute necessity of the latter one. We can manage without Carthage, but without math exams after two, three generations we’ll be in the same state as Carthage these days.

Today I will refer to the acknowledged American consultant, one of the fathers of IT formal methods of the system modeling (and a charming person) – Tom DeMarco. Thanks to the Soviet Union that had translated, without license but still, into Russian the most important books (e.g. “Structured Analysis and System Specification”) and then exported it to the satellite countries, where you could’ve bought them for pennies in so called “bookstores of friendship” even several years ago I could make use of Tom’s techniques – mathematical in themselves – which supported the work of IT systems constructor.

Recently a translation of Tom’s “Deadline” was published in Poland as “Zdazyc przed terminem”. This is a story of IT project manager forced to work for a software tycoon, who bought a small Balkan country for the aim of realization of the software project (using ruthless managing methods) that was to be used for beating the competition for ever. The book is a management manual as well as a crime story and a comedy. Just like in all comedies we laugh at foolishness. Just like in all good comedies we mostly laugh at ourselves, unfortunately. With time and experience, Tom realized that modeling is important but not crucial; it’s people who are the most important.

Few months before Polish publishing of “Deadline” Tom released his new book in the US called “Slack”. In the preface he is addressing it to the extremely busy managers, who have just as much time to improve their qualifications as the flight latter from New York to Chicago or Amsterdam to Rome. In this time they should realize that the paradigm of company effectiveness proposed by optimalisation consultants is truly a deadly poison especially if we take in consideration the long-term effects of it.

The owners and managers of the companies who want their business' success and well being and as private people want to have something from life as well, should read the book even, and especially then, if they don’t have time to read expert books. The madness of using human resources in 97% and more, leads to the situation in which people, who are the most important factor in knowledge field – the soldiers of knowledge, get burnt out like torches in the wind, without little, if any, benefit for themselves or their companies.

According to DeMarco “slack” or letting creative people to spend some time doing nothing gives a chance for: analysing, learning, thinking on strategy, contemplating and as a result of the previous ones – gives a chance for company growth. Unfortunately as long as the accountants will not be taken away their abacuses, the most innovative employees in the company will be forced to exhausting, over 100% effectiveness. Which in turn means losing an opportunity for company growth.

I’m not denying the need for financial departments. I just call for the common knowledge of the basic mathematics so that the people who know it, will be able to understand that with the use of mathematics one can add, subtract, divide or even multiply, but with that one will never find a sense or an aim of organization existence. Thus mathematics is essential to know, particularly for the sake of knowing when it becomes useless.