Software Development Myths

Pressman (1997) describes a number of common beliefs or myths that software managers, customers, and developers believe falsely. He describes these myths as ``misleading attitudes that have caused serious problems.'' We look at these myths to see why they are false, and why they lead to trouble.

Software Management Myths. Pressman describes managers' beliefs in the following mythology as grasping at straws:

Software Customer Myths. Customers often vastly underestimate the difficulty of developing software. Sometimes marketing people encourage customers in their misbeliefs. Developer Myths. Developers often want to be artists (or artisans), but the software development craft is becoming an engineering discipline. However myths remain: