Overview

Synopsis

In "The Deadline", the author, Tom DeMarco, illustrates 100+ project management principles accumulated by the protagonist, one Webster Tompkins. His supporting cast includes a host of consultants, a corporate spy, an ex-general, and a burned-out project manager. Tompkins has accepted the formidable task of developing several new software products concurrently, and tackling the many challenges that invariably occur (e.g., organizing resources, schedule compression, abusive management, etc.). In addition, he has seized the opportunity to conduct an experiment with each project: having parallel development teams (differing in size) compete in completing the same product.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Opportunity Knocking
Chapter 2: Standing Up to Kalbfuss
Chapter 3: Silikon Velejit
Chapter 4: The CD-ROM Plan
Chapter 5: NNL
Chapter 6: The World's Greatest Project Manager
Chapter 7: Taking On Staff
Chapter 8: The Eminent Dr. Rizzoli
Chapter 9: Ex-General Markov
Chapter 10: Abdul Jamid
Chapter 11: The Sinister Minister Belok
Chapter 12: The Numbers Man
Chapter 13: QuickerStill
Chapter 14: Morovia's First Programmer
Chapter 15: Think Fast!
Chapter 16: Planning for the Summer Games
Chapter 17: The Guru of Conflict Resolution
Chapter 18: Maestro Diyeniar
Interlude
Chapter 19: Part and Whole
Chapter 20: Standing on Ceremony
Chapter 21: Endgame Begins
Chapter 22: The Year's Hottest IPO
Chapter 23: Passing Through Riga on the Way Home

Praises

Wonderfully entertaining.

Criticisms

The fictional Project Management Laboratory (i.e., the controlled experiment involving parallel development teams for each product) lacks realism -- especially for shrink-wrap software -- when considering likely real-world constraints and pressures.

*SPOILER* A romantic sub-plot.

Final Analysis

The novel format carries on the tradition of telling stories to pass on wisdom to others. "The Deadline" is a project management must-read.

Copyright

Copyright © 2003 Anthon Pang.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".