The programmer at wit’s end for lack of space can often do best by disentangling himself from his code, rearing back, and contemplating his data. Representation is the essence of programming. – Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month

As years pass with newer projects, the one thing I notice more is that data is more important than algorithms. You can alleviate bad algorithms with better ones during the course of a project, but to fix bad data design, a full rewrite is usually necessary.

First, our techniques of estimating are poorly developed. More seriously, they reflect an unvoiced assumption which is quite un-true, i.e., that all will go well.

Second, our estimating techniques fallaciously confuse effort with progress, hiding the assumption that men and months are interchangeable.

Third, because we are uncertain of our estimates, software managers often lack the courteous stubbornness of Antoine’s chef.

Fourth, schedule progress is poorly monitored. Techniques proven and routine in other engineering disciplines are considered radical innovations in software engineering.

Fifth, when schedule slippage is recognized, the natural (and traditional) response is to add manpower. Like dousing a fire with gasoline, this makes matters worse, much worse. More fire requires more gasoline, and thus begins a regenerative cycle which ends in disaster.

The company I’m currently working at has this habit of adding personpower to projects. We’ve been hiring since I joined. I don’t know what to think when I read these.