Brooks's law

expression

ops cultureprogramming

The principle that adding people to a late software project makes it later.

New team members need ramp-up and training, and every added person multiplies the communication paths, so late-stage staffing often slows things down instead of speeding them up. Fred Brooks drew it from managing IBM's OS/360, and it still punctures the myth that effort is fungible.

Also known as: Brooks's law, the Mythical Man-Month

Sources

  • Brooks, 'The Mythical Man-Month' (1975)

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