# No Silver Bullet — Essence and Accident in Software Engineering **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [March 11, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://forum.ruby.org.au/t/no-silver-bullet-essence-and-accident-in-software-engineering/36 "2017-03-11T00:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![antulik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.ruby.org.au/antulik/32/2_2.png) [@antulik](https://forum.ruby.org.au/u/antulik)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://forum.ruby.org.au/t/no-silver-bullet-essence-and-accident-in-software-engineering/36/1 "2017-03-11T00:47:00Z")
I’ve mentioned that to @MJIO this morning which led to an interesting discussion. I’ve only recently discovered it myself, but considering that the paper was written in 1986 I think it is relevant to these days. > **[No Silver Bullet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet)** > > "No Silver Bullet – Essence and Accident in Software Engineering" is a widely discussed paper on software engineering written by Turing Award winner Fred Brooks in 1986. Brooks argues that "there is no single development, in either technology or management technique, which by itself promises even one order of magnitude \[tenfold\] improvement within a decade in productivity, in reliability, in simplicity." He also states that "we cannot expect ever to see two-fold gains every two years" in so Bro... My conclusion that frequently changing languages/frameworks/paradigms to the latest and greatest won’t make a significant difference according to the ‘no silver bullet’ concept. ---
**Author:** ![antulik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.ruby.org.au/antulik/32/2_2.png) [@antulik](https://forum.ruby.org.au/u/antulik)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 5:49am UTC](https://forum.ruby.org.au/t/no-silver-bullet-essence-and-accident-in-software-engineering/36/2 "2017-03-11T05:49:08Z")
My favourite quote from the paper. (Which is a great read by the way) > The hardest single part of building a software system is deciding precisely what to build. 31 years later, guess what, nothing changed ---
**Author:** ![keithpitty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.ruby.org.au/keithpitty/32/685_2.png) [@keithpitty](https://forum.ruby.org.au/u/keithpitty)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://forum.ruby.org.au/t/no-silver-bullet-essence-and-accident-in-software-engineering/36/3 "2017-03-18T00:54:55Z")
Anton, Thanks for posting this. You’ve prompted me to reach for a tome that has been in my bookshelf for many years. It is _The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering_ by Fred Brooks. The foreword was written in October 1974. It is a collection of 15 essays that still make worthwhile reading. Each is introduced with a quote. I love the following one, which introduces the second essay, _The Mythical Man-Month_: > Good cooking takes time. If you are made to wait, it is to server you better, and to please you. – Menu of Restaurant Antoine, New Orleans Keith