Rating: 
Summary: Would be a great a white paper.
Review: This book contains some valuable information, howver it could easily be boiled down to 20 pages. When trying to keep up with the rapid changes in technology I don't have time for such verbose books.
Rating: 
Summary: Pessimistic Outlook on software dev, but worth reading!
Review: I believe that Yourdon makes some valid points about "Mission Impossible" software projects in the book - how they get started, why they continue in the face of utter failure and how to survive them. But I believe he should of stressed the need for more design upfront on the "Death March" projects, which would lead to a higher rate of success. I do believe that Yourdon is correct in his assessment that Death March projects are now the norm for the industry and enjoyed his up to date Dilbertesque comments. But, as I do believe the book was worthwhile reading, it was really rather thin on material and I don't believe I'll be referencing it in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Are Death Marches becoming the norm?
Review: Although Yourdon does present many useful techniques for dealing with a project that is at risk because of unreasonable scheduling or budget demands, I'm not willing to believe that "death march" projects need to be the norm. I find his opinion to be overly cynical and lacking in imagination. Perhaps its time for Mr. Yourdon to leave writing about software development to others that have not given up on the industry.
Rating: 
Summary: Important, but begs many questions
Review: Unfortunately for the programmer profession, it takes a voice as distinguished as Yourdon's to state the obvious. The most profound, and obvious, message in this book is that the Death March (doomed) endeavor is the norm, not the exception. This is damnation of our trade, but a necessary one. I do not agree with Yourdon's musings on why this is true, or what should be done about it. I think that the fact that this is the sorry state of our art should be a call to arms, a call to action to prevent the Death March. Instead, Yourdon has written a survival guide. I think that a person of his stature could better have written a manifesto for change.
Rating: 
Summary: Why do the right people refuse to read the right books?
Review: While reading Ed's entertaining drama called Death March most of the time my first impulse was to laugh, but my second and all my subsequent impulses were to cry, because nearly each and every negative item in this book seems to deal with the circumstances in my current company.
Just one of nearly countless "funny" examples: Recently my General Manager - the one who is responsible for sales, budgets, schedules, staffing - in short for everything and besides the one who knows everything (better) - gave me an extra lesson in software development by telling me with an absolutely serious expression: "Hey Volker, software testing taking 30 to 50 percent of a software development project is much too expensive and inacceptable! It must take at most 10 percent!"
And this was his core statement to my revised testing conception for our software development. So I have to ask myself and all the other "innocent victims", whether my specific situation is the exception or the norm. If it should be the norm, I suspect, Ed's tip to quit wouldn't help me either, because in this case a new company means nothing else than new Death Marches ... See you then!
Volker, a desparate head of a software development department
Any comments for me? Visit my (German) private homepage:
Rating:
Summary: We've All Been On This Road Before....
Review: This is the book to buy if you are working on a very large, multi-manager, multi-team, multi-CASE tool, multi-database project. Yourdon used the Internet and Compuserve to collect war stories from the trenches of Death March projects.... And along the way he picked up several "free advice that's been paid for" tips for dealing with your situation. Don't leave home without this one.
Rating:
Summary: Just read the preface ... and fascinated
Review: One of my "softworkers" gave me Ed's book for a short preview. I could just read the preface ... and I was fascinated. It seems to be like DeMarco's/Lister's "Peopleware" and/or like Fred Brooks' "The Mythical Man Month". - So the very first thing I did, was to order this book and now I'm anxiously waiting for the delivery. But be sure: When I will have read the book, I will send you my comment. Although just 32, me and my "softworkers" are people, who know "Death March Projects" like good old friends. - See you.
Rating:
Summary: Great Description of Every Software Project
Review: An honest, grizzled veteran's description and analysis of every software project that has ever been and probably ever will be. This book provides a practical toolkit for project managers and software developers to tilt the odds toward survival in a software project. It provides perspective as well as a detailed analysis of the underlying forces and mechanisms which pervade all development efforts. This should be manditory reading by senior managers and customers -- then maybe the frequency of these type of projects can be reduced
Rating:
Summary: Good, but thin.
Review: The book is good. Says a lot of sensible things about impossibly ambitious projects. It also repeats the sensible things at greater length - the page count could easily have been 80 if the publisher had asked for brevity.
A book to read, but not one to return to.
Rating:
Summary: A true survival guide
Review: I have been in death march projects all through my professional career. It is almost like Ed was sitting and observing all my projects.
Ed offers practical advice on how to avoid death-march projects and if that is not an option, how to survive them. This is a masterful analysis of everything related to death march projects.
If you have family, friends, hobbies you care for, and a life in general outside of work, you need to read this book.
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