Maintenance Quote by Frederick P. Brooks Jr
““Program maintenance involves no cleaning, lubrication, or repair of deterioration. It consists chiefly of changes that repair design defects. Much more often than with hardware, these changes include added functions. Usually they are visible to the user. The total cost of maintaining a widely used program is typically 40 percent or more of the cost of developing it. Surprisingly, this cost is strongly affected by the number of users. More users find more bugs.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Mythical Man-Month, Frederick P. Brooks Jr., 1975
Software maintenance is largely about fixing design flaws and adding features, which becomes costly as user base grows and more bugs surface.
In simple terms: Maintaining software is costly and driven by user count.
Key Takeaway
Plan for ongoing maintenance and prioritize robust design.
Themes
software
maintenance
cost
user impact
Mood
pragmatic
analytical
Type
technical
advisory
When to use this quote
- large user base
- legacy systems
- feature updates
- bug fixing
Key Concepts
design defects
feature creep
bug discovery
Questions to Reflect On
- How can design choices reduce future maintenance?
- What strategies balance new features with stability?
A Different Perspective
Maintenance costs can dominate budgets, limiting resources for new development.
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