Book · 1995 · Computers
The Mythical Man-Month
Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition
- mentions
- 6
- people
- 5
- podcasts
- 3
- episodes
- 6
- recommendations
- 0
If I had a product and I was two years behind I could not hire a thousand engineers and catch my competitor like it's a mythical man-month. Nine women can't have a baby in a month.
Ben Horowitz · a16z Podcast · Apr 2026 Listen at 2:13 What they say about it
- Nine women and a baby“nine women cannot have a baby”3
The best things said about it
I regularly cite Fred Brooks in The Mythical Man-Month essays.
For my whole life in technology and for the whole history of software, there was this thing called the mythical man month. And the way the mythical man month, you know, nine women cannot have a baby in a month.
Ben Horowitz a16z Podcast · Feb 2026 The thing that we never thought would ever ever ever go away is a mythical man month. You know nine women can't have a baby in a month. Well with AI you can um you know with software it's a metaphor for software.
Marc Andreessen The Ben & Marc Show · Jan 2026 Where and when it comes up
Most mentions, by podcast
5 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. is a classic software engineering text that explores project management pitfalls, famously arguing that adding manpower to a late software project only makes it later. Titus Winters offered a critique of the book on The Pragmatic Engineer, specifically taking issue with the surgical-team chapter as overly hierarchical for modern, ongoing team environments. Will Larson discussed the core principles of the work on the same podcast while examining the persistent challenges of scaling project teams. Ben Horowitz referenced the book across multiple episodes of the a16z Podcast, citing its famous adage that nine women cannot make a baby in a month to illustrate the immutable historical laws of software development timelines and resource constraints. Marc Andreessen similarly invoked the mythical man-month metaphor on The Ben & Marc Show to contrast traditional software limitations with the new capabilities brought by artificial intelligence. Gergely Orosz also mentioned reading the older text on The Pragmatic Engineer to evaluate which foundational software architecture and management ideas have genuinely endured over the decades. Across these discussions, tech leaders continually returned to Brooks's insights to contextualize modern engineering challenges and team management dynamics.
Every mention
Ben Horowitz So for example if I had a product and I was two years behind I could not hire a thousand engineers and catc… 2
“So for example if I had a product and I was two years behind I could not hire a thousand engineers and catch my competitor like it's a mythical man-month. Nine women can't have a baby in a month. Everybody knows that.”
“For my whole life in technology and for the whole history of software, there was this thing called the mythical man month. And the way the mythical man month, you know, nine women cannot have a baby in a month.”
Gergely Orosz I've been going through the middle man month. I've almost finished this. This is a real old one. 1
“I've been going through the middle man month. I've almost finished this. This is a real old one.”
Marc Andreessen The thing that we never thought would ever ever ever go away is a mythical man month. You know nine women c… 1
“The thing that we never thought would ever ever ever go away is a mythical man month. You know nine women can't have a baby in a month. Well with AI you can um you know with software it's a metaphor for software.”
Titus Winters I regularly cite Fred Brooks in the Mythical Man-Month essays, right? And in the surgical team like at the… 1
“I regularly cite Fred Brooks in the Mythical Man-Month essays, right? And in the surgical team like at the surgical team is my least favorite chapter in that book because it's structured as if we're only ever going to do one project.”
Will Larson There's still the mythical man-month thing, but like, 'Hey, we're moving 15 more people to work on this key… 1
“There's still the mythical man-month thing, but like, 'Hey, we're moving 15 more people to work on this key project.' And, you know, the mythical man-month I I I want to say was written in like '80 '84. '75, 1975. And the second version, '95.”
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I'm sure at some point you'll get to mythical man month. Yeah, I've got it already.”