Steve McConnell Quotes

16 Sourced Quotes

In software, the chain isn't as strong as its weakest link; it's as weak as all the weak links multiplied together.

Steve McConnell
Even when you have skilled, motivated, hard-working people, the wrong team structure can undercut their efforts instead of catapulting them to success. A poor team structure can increase development time, reduce quality, damage morale, increase turnover, and ultimately lead to project cancellation.

Steve McConnell
It's better to wait for a productive programmer to become available than it is to wait for the first available programmer to become productive.

Steve McConnell
A brute force solution that works is better than an elegant solution that doesn't work.

Steve McConnell
Software projects fail for one of two general reasons: the project team lacks the knowledge to conduct a software project successfully, or the project team lacks the resolve to conduct a project effectively.

Steve McConnell
It's OK to figure out murder mysteries, but you shouldn't need to figure out code. You should be able to read it.

Steve McConnell
The job of the average manager requires a shift in focus every few minutes. The job of the average software developer requires that the developer not shift focus more often than every few hours.

Steve McConnell
The default movement on a software project should be in the direction of taking elements of the software away to make it simpler rather than adding elements to make it more complex.

Steve McConnell
In software, consultants sometimes tell you to buy into certain software-development methods to the exclusion of other methods. That's unfortunate because if you buy into any single methodology 100 percent, you'll see the whole world in terms of that methodology. In some instances, you'll miss opportunities to use other methods better suited to your current problem.

Steve McConnell
Motivation is undoubtedly the single greatest influence on how well people perform. Most productivity studies have found that motivation has a stronger influence on productivity than any other factor.

Steve McConnell
A typical software project can present more opportunities to learn from mistakes than some people get in a lifetime.

Steve McConnell
Engineering is the application of scientific principles toward practical ends. If the engineering isn't practical, it's bad engineering.

Steve McConnell
The primary purpose of software estimation is not to predict a project's outcome; it is to determine whether a project's targets are realistic enough to allow the project to be controlled to meet them.

Steve McConnell
Heuristic is an algorithm in a clown suit. It's less predictable, it's more fun, and it comes without a 30-day, money-back guarantee.

Steve McConnell
Trying to apply formal methods to all software projects is just as bad as trying to apply code-and-fix development to all projects.

Steve McConnell
Building software implies various stages of planning, preparation and execution that vary in kind and degree depending on what's being built. [...]
Building a four-foot tower requires a steady hand, a level surface, and 10 undamaged beer cans. Building a tower 100 times that size doesn't merely require 100 times as many beer cans.

Steve McConnell