I just finished a novel by Tom Demarco, half of the Peopleware duo.

The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management is either awful, bad or good, depending on the terms by which it's evaluated.

As a novel, it's utter shit. The plot is predictable: all good guys prevail, bad guy suffers, the hero gets the lady. The characters are unrealistic. The premise is downright retarded.

As a book about project management, it's mediocre; there's much better stuff out there, including some of Demarco's own work.

But, as a novel about project management it succeeds. Yes, the situations are too simple and idealized to be exactly replicated in real-world work situations, but many people find allegories easier to comprehend than dense non-fiction.

I, for one, find Eric Sink's comparison between game strategies and business strategies enlightening and scrutable in a way that other formats couldn't achieve.

So, if you're interested in getting some software project management thoughts, from a different angle, this book is worth buying. If you want a canonical guide or a good novel, don't waste your time.

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