itang
Essay on the Mythical Man Month

Chapter 2: Mythical Man Month

In the second chapter, the author writes on how many software developers will
underestimate the amount of time needed to produce an application. The author
also points out several reasons for this gross underestimation, as well as why
they are valid - one of the reasons is the erroneous substitution of men for
months, which the title of the book comes from. In addition to all the reasons
that the author has stated in this chapter, there is another possible reason
for the underestimation of time in software development: the development cycle.

The development cycle is a simple diagram that outlines the flow from one stage
of development of the application to the next. For example, it will begin with
the planning stage, and will point to the next stage, the design stage.
However, unlike most flow diagrams, it incorporates feedback from latter
stages. So in the example, the design stage will point to the next stage, but
it will also point back to the planning stage. This allows for unseen problems
in the development process to be readdressed as soon as it is found. For
example, in the latter stages of development, say the testing stage, a bug is
found, and because of the reverse flow, it may cycle all the way back to the
design stage to implement a change, and then continue onwards. 

Although software engineers will account time into all the different stages of
development, they are uncertain of the number of times that they will cycle
back and forth within the development cycle. Thus this could be another valid
reason for why software developers will typically underestimate the amount of
time necessary to produce an application.