The Design of Design: Essays from a Computer Scientist

Making Sense of Design

 

Effective design is at the heart of everything from software development to engineering to architecture. But what do we really know about the design process? What leads to effective, elegant designs? The Design of Design addresses these questions.

 

These new essays by Fred Brooks contain extraordinary insights for designers in every discipline. Brooks pinpoints constants inherent in all design projects and uncovers processes and patterns likely to lead to excellence. Drawing on conversations with dozens of exceptional designers, as well as his own experiences in several design domains, Brooks observes that bold design decisions lead to better outcomes.

 

The author tracks the evolution of the design process, treats collaborative and distributed design, and illuminates what makes a truly great designer. He examines the nuts and bolts of design processes, including budget constraints of many kinds, aesthetics, design empiricism, and tools, and grounds this discussion in his own real-world examplescase studies ranging from home construction to IBMs Operating System/360. Throughout, Brooks reveals keys to success that every designer, design project manager, and design researcher should know.

 

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Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., is Kenan Professor of Computer Science at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a department that he founded and chaired for 20 years. He may be best known as the "father of the IBM System/360," having served as IBM's project manager for its development and later as manager of the Operating System/360 software project during its design phase. For this work, he and two colleagues were awarded a National Medal of Technology in 1985. Brooks distilled the successes and failures of the development of Operating System/360 in The Mythical Man-Month: Essays in Software Engineering, a book that remains a timeless best-seller more than 30 years later.

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Preface ix

 

Part I: Models of Designing 1

Chapter 1: The Design Question 3

Chapter 2: How Engineers Think of DesignThe Rational Model 13

Chapter 3: Whats Wrong with This Model? 21

Chapter 4: Requirements, Sin, and Contracts 39

Chapter 5: What Are Better Design Process Models? 51

 

Part III: Design Perspectives 103

Chapter 17: A Computer Scientists Dream System for Designing HousesMind to Machine 203

Chapter 21: Case Study: Beach House View/360 259

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