Fred Brooks: The Godfather of Software Engineering

Fred Brooks is probably the coolest old dude there is — that is, if you are involved at all in the world of computer engineering, and a complete geek yourself (hello). I mean, the man has fans. Not just nerdy 30-somethings who work in labs and cubicles, but at a recent talk at Etsy’s headquarters, there were literally young girls who were boarding the elevator with the “ohmahgawdimsoexcited” exuberance of a fans at a Vampire Weekend show. What a baller.

Brooks, nearly an octogenarian, rarely gives lectures outside of his Computer Science classes at UNC Chapel Hill these days. But when he does grace us with his insight, the masses (of nerds) flock to hear his prophetic words.

For those unfortunate souls unfamiliar with Fred Brooks, here’s the rundown: In 1975, after a long and decorated career in systems engineering at IBM, Brooks published The Mythical Man-Month, which quickly became one of the most important works in the history of computer and software design. The book laid out foundations for best practices that are still taught and followed to this day by developers and engineers of all types (myself included). This is especially noteworthy because maintaining this kind of timeless relevance is unheard of in a field where that iPhone 3G you got last year is already worthless.

Brooks’ lecture at Etsy’s main office on June 14th centered on topics from his new book, The Design of Design as well as the basics from Man-Month. He touched on telecollaboration and distributed teams, he discussed roles of project managers and system designers, he weighed benefits of pair programming and XP (Extreme Programming). All sorts of topics that are acutely relevant in the modern setting, but still fundamentally rooted in his now 35-year-old book.

See Brooks’ lecture on “Design of Design,” at Case Western University, from 2007:

If you are any kind of engineer, you’ve probably read (or at least become vaguely familiar with) Man-Month and already know the value of the lessons within. If you are any kind of manager, CEO, marketing person, or project manager please do us tech geeks a favor: read this book now.