Brooks: no single silver bullet for software engineering

What changed

A durable analytical distinction and testable productivity prediction entered software-engineering discourse.

Scientific scope

Exact 1987 Computer article; 1986 presentation and later retrospective separated.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. The record is the exact 1987 Computer article. The 1986 IFIP presentation, later retrospective, empirical debates, individual proposed techniques and Brooks’s other project-management work remain separate.

Contributors

• Frederick P. Brooks Jr. · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• Brooks, No Silver Bullet
• Crossref record for No Silver Bullet

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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