MIT Interns Bust Brooks Law?

March 10, 2010 · Filed Under Software Estimating  - 1 Comment(s)

Interesting article on slash dot discussing how a startup hired 20 interns for a month and actually got something done… The article intimated that Brooks Law (rate at which staff can be added to a project) was busted. The startup did the following:

Hired only the best and the brightest: They hired MIT students (could increase productivity by a factor of 10 even with Brooks Law)

Implemented only loosely coupled projects, and small ones at that:  They chose projects that “lie around the edges of our core technology.”  Congratulations to them.  Remember Brooks Law is applicable primarily on individual programs by an individual team.

Specified completely before bringing in the interns: So the project(s) were well started when the 20 interns appeared.  They don’t say how much time or staff it took to do the specification.  A small team working early to define and a larger staff for construction is within Brooks Law.

A very short duration:  Unclear whether they could keep up such a pace over a longer project.

Bottom line: This was quite an accomplishment.  Hats off to this team.  But while this is of great interest, I don’t believe Brooks Law is busted.

PS I wish I watched Mythbusters on TV more often.  I could then have used their terminology.


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Comments

One Response to “MIT Interns Bust Brooks Law?”

  1. Bruce Benson on April 7th, 2010 5:22 pm

    I found that when a project was well organized, it was easy and efficient to add people. We knew exactly where to plug people in when we got them and they were immediately productive (even the new folks, one which turned out NOT to be a programmer, but that is a story in its own right).

    When it was more the typical “code and go” project, more people just caused more confusion and distracted what productive folks we had.

    I’m getting to like this site – lots of good info.

    Bruce Benson
    http://PMToolsThatWork.com

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