AntiPatterns

CATALOG · MANAGEMENT

Management

For a quick example, see the website's featured Management AntiPattern, Death by Planning.

More than half of engineering management is human communication, and management AntiPatterns name the scenarios where that communication breaks down badly enough to damage the software itself. The role has changed since email and intranets made communication instant. What used to require an organizational chain now happens across space and time without one, and a lot of old management habits haven't caught up.

Dilbert © United Feature Syndicate, Inc., reprinted by permission
Dilbert © United Feature Syndicate, Inc., reprinted by permission

Managers still carry process management, resource management, and the outside relationships (customers, partners) that the rest of the team doesn't see. Yourdon called projects with unreasonable commitments "death march projects." We agree the pattern is real. We don't agree with his explanation that "people are idiots." People are human, and humans share the same failings under pressure, which is exactly why the pattern repeats.

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Last updated: September 12, 2026
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