Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless asThe Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Now, 20 years after the initial publication of his book, Brooks has revisited his original ideas and added new thoughts and advice, both for readers already familiar with his work and for readers discovering it for the first time. The added chapters contain (1) a crisp condensation of all the propositions asserted in the original book, including Brooks' central argument in The Mythical Man-Month: that large programming projects suffer management problems different from small ones due to the division of labor; that the conceptual integrity of the product is therefore critical; and that it is difficult but possible to achieve this unity; (2) Brooks' view of these propositions a generation later; (3) a reprint of his classic 1986 paper "No Silver Bullet"; and (4) today's thoughts on the 1986 assertion, "There will be no silver bullet within ten years."

弗雷德里克·布鲁克斯（Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.）是北卡罗莱纳大学Kenan-Flagler商学院的计算机科学教授。他曾荣获图灵奖,美国计算机协会（ACM）称赞他“对计算机体系结构、操作系统和软件工程做出了里程碑式的贡献。”

布鲁克斯被认为是IBM 360系统之父,他曾担任360系统的项目经理、360操作系统项目设计阶段的经理。因在这两个项目中的杰出贡献,布鲁克斯和Bob Evans、Erich Bloch在1985年获得美国国家技术奖（National Medal of Technology）。布鲁克斯早期还曾担任IBM公司Stretch和Harvest计算机的体系结构设计师。布鲁克斯创立了北卡罗莱纳大学的计算机科学系,在1964-1984年期间担任系主任。他还曾任职于美国国家科技局和国防科学技术委员会。他目前的教学和研究方向是计算机体系结构、分子模型绘图和虚拟环境设计。

UMLChina翻译组的成员汪颖（Adams Wang）翻译了这本《人月神话》。UMLChina是中文世界访问量最大的软件工程网站。译者汪颖毕业于华中理工大学,从事软件开发以及流程改进方面的工作。