Tom DeMarco (born August 20, 1940) is an American

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

, author, and consultant on

software engineering Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining Application software, software applications. It involves applying engineering design process, engineering principl ...

topics. He was an early developer of structured analysis in the 1970s.

Early life and education

Tom DeMarco was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He received a BSEE degree in Electrical Engineering from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, a M.S. from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and a diplôme from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

Career

DeMarco started working at

Bell Telephone Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

in 1963, where he participated in ESS-1 project to develop the first large scale Electronic Switching System, which became installed in telephone offices all over the world.Tom DeMarco (2002
Structured Analysis: Beginnings of a New Discipline
In: ''sd&m Conference 2001, Software Pioneers'' Eds.: M. Broy, E. Denert, Springer 2002. Later in the 1960s he started working for a French IT consulting firm, where he worked on the development of a

conveyor system A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transport of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow ...

for the new merchandise mart at La Villette in Paris, and in the 1970s on the development of on-line banking systems in Sweden, Holland, France and New York.Tom DeMarco
ISRC Fellow. Retrieved November 24, 2008. In the 1970s DeMarco was one of the major figures in the development of structured analysis and structured design in software engineering. In January 1978 he published ''Structured Analysis and System Specification'', a major milestone in the field. In the 1980s with Tim Lister, Stephen McMenamin, John F. Palmer, James Robertson and Suzanne Robertson, he founded the consulting firm "The Atlantic Systems Guild" in New York. The Guild developed into a New York- and London-based consulting company specializing in methods and management of software development. DeMarco has lectured and consulted throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia and the Far East. He is a member of the ACM and a Fellow of the IEEE. He lives in

Camden, Maine Camden is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,232 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The population of the town more than triples during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. Camden is ...

, and is a principal of the Atlantic Systems Guild, and a fellow and Senior Consultant of the Cutter Consortium. DeMarco was the 1986 recipient of the Warnier Prize for "lifetime contribution to the field of computing", and the 1999 recipient of the

Stevens Award The Stevens Award is a software engineering lecture award given by the Reengineering Forum, an industry association. The international Stevens Award was created to recognize outstanding contributions to the literature or practice of methods for s ...

for "contribution to the methods of software development".

Publications

Tech and Business Books

*''Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams'' with co-author Tim Lister, Addison-Wesley Professional; 3 edition (July 1, 2013) *''Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency'' Random House, Broadway Books Division, 2001. *''Happy to Work Here: Understanding and Improving the Culture at Work'' with co-authors Tim Lister, Peter Hruschka, Steve McMenamin and Suzanne Robertson. New Atlantic (2021) *''Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior'' with co-authors Tim Lister, Peter Hruschka, Steve McMenamin and Suzanne Robertson, Dorset House (March, 2008). Winner of the 2009 Jolt Award. *''Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects'' with co-author, Tim Lister, Dorset House (March 2003). Winner of the 2004 Jolt Award. *''The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management''. New York: Dorset House Press, 1997.Winner of the 1998 Jolt Award. *''Why Does Software Cost So Much? (And Other Puzzles of the Information Age)''. New York: Dorset House, 1995. *''Controlling Software Projects: Management, Measurement and Estimation''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. *''Concise Notes on Software Engineering''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980. *''Structured Analysis and System Specification''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979. *''Software State of the Art: Selected Papers of the 1980s'' Editor (with co-editor, Tim Lister). New York: Dorset House, 1990.

Mainstream Fiction

* ''The One-Way Time Traveler.'' Artful Press, 2019. * ''A Ruby Beam of Light''. Double Dragon Publishing, 2016. * ''Airship Nation''. Double Dragon Publishing, 2016. * ''Als auf der Welt das Licht ausging''. Carl Hanser Verlag, 2015. (translated from "Andronescu's Paradox" ?) * ''Dark Harbor House (a comic novel)''. Down East Books, 2001. *'' Lieutenant America and Miss Apple Pie'' (short story collection) Down East Books, 2003.

References

External links

Tom DeMarco's home pageThe Atlantic Systems Guild websiteCutter Consortium website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demarco, Tom 1940 births American technology writers Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Living people American software engineers Writers from Pennsylvania People from Hazleton, Pennsylvania Fellows of the IEEE Software engineering researchers Engineers from Pennsylvania Columbia University alumni University of Paris alumni American expatriates in France