The Mythical Man-Month (Frederick P. Brooks Jr.)

"The Mythical Man-Month" by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. is a classic book about software project management. It explains that adding more people to a late software project usually makes it later, because onboarding new team members takes time and can create communication issues. Brooks introduces the idea that software projects don’t scale linearly with team size—more people doesn’t always mean faster completion. The book emphasizes realistic planning, understanding project complexity, and recognizing the limits of effort estimation, highlighting that software development involves unique challenges that require careful management rather than simply increasing workforce to accelerate progress.