Design of Design - Chapter 13

Brooks opens this chapter by distinguishing two different groups: rationalists and empiricists. He states that rationalists believe that a complex object can be designed by thought alone, but empiricists believe the exact opposite. He states that rationalists would say that you should design software to be correct, and then prove that it's correct. Brooks ends this short chapter by answering a question he posed at the beginning of the chapter. He says that you can't design a complex object just by thinking hard about it, but it does help.

Design of Design - Chapter 12

Brooks begins this chapter by telling us that wise designers begin designing by writing down everything they know and assume about the user, his or her purposes, and his or her methods of use. He says that it is important to write out an explicit list of assumptions when designing in a team; otherwise, all team members might incorrectly believe they all have the same assumptions. However, the author says that the designers will often not know enough to make a complete model of the user, but it forces the designers to ask questions about the user that they might not have asked otherwise. Brooks says that for any questions that can't be answered about the user with a reasonable about of searching, it's perfectly fine to guess. And with that, he gives us the tagline for the chapter: "Better wrong than vague." By this he means that it is better to be wrong about your user than to simply not have enough information about your user.

Design of Design - Chapter 11

Brooks opens this chapter talking about constraints. He tells us that constraints can be a good thing that challenge a designer's thinking, or they can be bad things that make a designer's life exceptionally difficult. Different types of constraints have to be identified, so Brooks lists four different types: real, obsolete, incorrectly perceived as real, and intentionally artificial. Two of these are quite obvious, but obsolete and incorrectly perceived constraints are less obvious. Brooks explains obsolete constraints by alluding to old size constraints that programmers had to adhere to in the past. He then explains incorrectly perceived constraints with several figures. Brooks then gives us an interesting idea. He says that specialized designs with tight constraints are easier than general-purpose designs with loose constraints.

Design of Design - Chapter 10

This chapter begins by introducing a new term, limiting resource, being any resource that is "scarce" and must be budgeted. Brooks points out that there are many other limiting resources besides money, and the limiting resource is actually not usually money. He says that even when it is money, there are several different ways money can be a limiting resource. And, even when money is the limiting resource, designers will often find another resource that is directly tied to cost and make that the "surrogate" limiting resource. The author also points out that limiting resources are not fixed; they can change. Then, after all this, Brooks closes the chapter by telling us what we should do once we find the limiting resource: identify explicitly, track publicly, and control firmly.

Design of Design - Chapter 9

Brooks begins this chapter by telling us that wise designers begin designing by writing down everything they know and assume about the user, his or her purposes, and his or her methods of use. He says that it is important to write out an explicit list of assumptions when designing in a team; otherwise, all team members might incorrectly believe they all have the same assumptions. However, the author says that the designers will often not know enough to make a complete model of the user, but it forces the designers to ask questions about the user that they might not have asked otherwise. Brooks says that for any questions that can't be answered about the user with a reasonable about of searching, it's perfectly fine to guess. And with that, he gives us the tagline for the chapter: "Better wrong than vague." By this he means that it is better to be wrong about your user than to simply not have enough information about your user.