It is very difficult to make a vigorous, plausible, and job-risking defense of an estimate that is derived by no quantitative method, supported by little data, and certified chiefly by the hunches of the managers

Product procedure...must securely protect the crown jewels, but, equally important, it must eschew building high fences around the garbage cans.

Predictability and great design are not friends.

Plan to throw one (implementation) away; you will, anyhow.

Men and months are interchangeable commodities only when a task can be partitioned among many workers with no communication among them.

Show me your flowcharts and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your tables, and I won't usually need your flowcharts; they'll be obvious.

Mediocre design provably wastes the world's resources, corrupts the environment, affects international competitiveness. Design is important.