The Mythical Man-Month #3 The Surgical Team

1. The Mythical Man-Month
#3 The Surgical Team

2. Index
1.Intro 3-5
2.The Problem 6-17
3.Mills’s Proposal 18-40
4.How It Work 41-46
2

3. Intro

4. –SACKMAN. ERIKSON. AND GRANT
…differences between high and low performers,
often by an order of magnitude.

5. Intro
5

6. The Problem

7. The Problem
Productivity 10 1
Program
speed and space 5 1
7

8. The Problem
One wants the system to be built
by as few minds as possible.
8

9. The Problem
So is the small team
excellent than?
9

10. The Problem
10

11. The Problem
11

12. The Problem
12

13. The Problem
13

14. The Problem
It is too slow for really
big systems.
14

15. OS360
15

16. The Problem
Will the product be interesting 10 years
after its initial design?
Or will it have been made obsolete by the
rapidly developing software technology?
16

17. The Problem
Timely Appearance
vs.
Efficiency and Conceptual Integrity

18. Mills's Proposal

19. Harlan Mills
19

20. Mills's Proposal
20

21. The Surgeon
21

22. Mills's Proposal
• The Surgeon as Chief Programmer
• ….defines the functional and
performance specifications, designs
the program, codes it, tests it, and
writes its documentation.
22

23. The Copilot
23

24. Mills's Proposal
• The copilot as alter ego
• ….to share in the design as a thinker
discussant, and evaluator
24

25. The Administrator
25

26. Mills's Proposal
• ….who handles money, people,
space, and machines, and who
interfaces
26

27. The Editor
27

28. Mills's Proposal
• ….takes the draft or dictated
manuscript produced by the surgeon
28

29. The Secretaries
29

30. Mills's Proposal
• ….handle project correspondence
and non-product files
30

31. The Program Clerk
31

32. Mills's Proposal
• ….enhances the team's most
valuable asset—its work-product
32

33. The Toolsmits
33

34. Mills's Proposal
• responsible for ensuring this
adequacy of the basic service and for
constructing, maintaining, and
upgrading special tools
34

35. The Tester
35

36. Mills's Proposal
• ….devises system test cases from the
functional specs, and devises test
data for the day-by-day debugging
• An adversary and an assistant.
36

37. The Language Lawyer
37

38. Mills's Proposal
• ….a neat and efficient way to use the
language to do difficult, obscure, or
tricky things
38

40. Mill's Proposal
From private art to
public practice.

41. How It Works

42. How It Work
42

43. How It Work
43

44. How It Work
44

45. How It Work
45

46. How It Work
Lack of division of the problem
and
The superior-subordinate relationship