The first step toward the management of disease was replacement of demon theories and humours theories by the germ theory. That very step, the beginning of hope, in itself dashed all hopes of magical solutions. It told workers that progress would be made stepwise, at great effort, and that a persistent, unremitting care would have to be paid to a discipline of cleanliness. So it is with software engineering today.

The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.

Scientists build to learn; Engineers learn to build.

Nine people can't make a baby in a month.

System debugging, like astronomy, has always been done chiefly at night.

...when fits of creativity run strong, more than one programmer or writer has been known to abandon the desktop for the more spacious floor.

The boss must first distinguish between action information and status information. He must discipline himself not to act on problems his managers can solve, and never to act on problems when he is explicitly reviewing status.