53 Quotes by Steve McConnell

It seems to me that the promise of agile development has fallen short at least so far." ()

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

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

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.

In my experience, you either have encapsulation and abstraction or you have neither. There is no middle ground.

95% on content and the computer language remains the same.

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.

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.

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