This is a book of essays from Fred Brooks, author of [b:The Mythical Man-Month|13629|The Mythical Man-Month Essays on Software Engineering|Frederick P. Brooks Jr.|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348430512s/13629.jpg|1905885]. A number of the essays are excellent. A couple were positively dull. The rest were in the middle.

Brooks' aim in this book is to talk about the process of design in a way that is reasonably general. In that respect, I think he fails. I think if you're not designing computer systems, the essays on design will not provide a good overlap with the reader's experience. But if you are, you'll likely find much that is valuable.

What I found most valuable about this book was revisiting ideas about design and collaboration from a perspective that isn't as heavy with the modern buzz words and paradigms. By shaking me out of my normal mindset, I was able to look at some topics in a different way. Part III: Design Perspectives, does the best job of this.

I don't think this is likely to become as much of a classic as The Mythical Man-Month, but it's definitely food for thought if you care about the design of computer systems. ( )

Interesting stuff! Brooks examines not of what makes designs good or bad, but instead various issues around how designers come up with designs - the process of design. He looks at the subject from several different perspectives, since he himself has designed computer hardware (architectures), software, houses (his own), and books. Along the way he looks at questions including how designers can be enabled to work creatively, what "style" is and how it fits into design, collaboration versus solo design, and more.

The first 20 chapters are more closely connected than one might expect from a collection of essays; they definitely demand to be read serially, rather than standing alone. The next seven chapters are case studies in design, of various projects the author participated over a 40-year period, in the four areas mentioned above. Finally, there is a short chapter listing some recommended reading, including a number of seminal books and papers in the computing field.

Unlike a traditional book in either computing or design theory, this is a very personal book. The author carefully states his conclusions as opinions, backed up his own experiences as well as by referenced literature. This is both good and bad; not all of Brooks's points seem well supported by evidence he provides; it's hard to tell in those cases whether his position is actually weak, or whether he's simply failed - intentionally or otherwise - to provide all the support he actually has for it.

Regardless, Brooks is an unquestionably skilled and influential computer scientist, and anyone who is interested in the craft of computing should read this book. However, while there might be some points of interest for people in other fields, I'm not certain that it would be of as much value to, say, an architect or a graphic designer. ( )

Definitely not required reading for all designers but a pleasant and useful one for some of them nevertheless

For some people there comes a time when they have spent more than five decades in their career and they can have a deep look at various projects they have accomplished, and talk about the common themes, as well as the distilled lessons they learned throughout a lifetime. If they also happen to be good writers as well as having lots of very successful achievements in industrial settings as well as academic and personal ones, then the reader of their work is lucky indeed. The Design of Design is one such book, at least for some readers.

Even though the book has many qualities, I consider it important to warn the casual reader: You are facing a book full of deep principles and abstractions. No matter how many concrete examples you may encounter in different chapters, the discussion of principles behind those examples are not to be taken lightly, Brook’s often refers to the works of Christopher Alexander, an architect, designer, mathematician and cognitive scientist, not only famous for his work in architecture and design, but also for inspiring the famous “Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software” book as well as his non-mainstream writings. This alone should be enough evidence for the knowledgeable reader that Brook’s book aims to be something more than a passing attempt at discussing a few design principles.

Apart from that warning, I can say that, if you are a software or computer engineer with more than 9-10 years of experience under your belt, during which you struggled with big, complex and collaborative projects as well as giving some serious thought to design issues, you might very well enjoy the book and even want to read it twice, reflecting on how themes from very different areas such as computer hardware design, complex software design and a summer-house design come to have some surprising common points.

If you are not a very experienced designer or engineer, someone junior with only a few years of experience, then I suggest you read The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) and then come back to The Design of Design after a few years. After all, the timeless discussions regarding the fundamental issues of designing complex systems and structures will not change very much in a few years. ( )

While I like his thinking and writing I just didn't find much in this book that hasn't already been said elsewhere. It might be a bit unfair to compare this to his other work, The Mythical Man Month, but I just don't see this being as foundational as that work was. Mostly because I think the industry has changed and the things he writes about here are actively being considered by today's professionals.

I'm somewhat dismayed at my own inability to find interest in reading his house design case studies. I'm not sure if this is a reflection on the studies or on my inability to consider design from another industry.