Recommended Reading

• Brooks, Frederick P., Jr. The Mythical Man-Month. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1975.

  Chapter 5, "The Second-System Effect," describes the importance of self-discipline in design and why the second system is especially dangerous. The specific examples given are terribly dated (from the IBM 360 era), but the principle is timeless.

• Tognazzini, Bruce. Tog on Interface. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1992.

  Chapter 28, "More Short Subjects," presents a letter from a reader of Apple Directions discussing some attitude problems common to programmers and how having an attitude can adversely affect usability.