Programmer Musings

Review of Slack

Slack
Tom DeMarco
Broadway Books, 2002

In Slack, Tom DeMarco takes a somewhat heretical position about how a business can succeed. He argues somewhat convincingly that companies need less efficiency and more slack in order to adapt to changes in their environment. DeMarco goes on to define slack as that period of time when you are 0% busy. While not as profound as Peopleware, this book is quite thought-provoking.

One real surprise for me was that, although I agreed with many of his points, I did not feel that he really proved his conclusion. He states that a lack of slack makes it harder to adapt to change, and then moves on. He states that the current fascination with efficiency is the cause of the lack of slack, and then he moves on. In some ways the book does more to make you think about the subject and then states a conclusion that he expects you to agree with.

Despite these complaints, Slack is a good book for anyone doing management or project management. It may not change your mind about the way companies should work. But, it does provide a different viewpoint