In almost a tab-clearing exercise, here's a brief history of the IBM 360's development. In an industrial way, the project was too big to fail, and so it succeeded largely due to a massive infusion of corporate resources, far beyond what was originally thought needed.
From that developmental blast furnace however came something of more lasting importance, an overall framework for efficiently managing medium-sized software development teams. Fred Brooks laid down the foundations of software engineering and for the successes of the 1980's in his 1975 book, The Mythical Man-Month. While there is a revised and expanded edition still in print, the original can be found here. These are lessons that keep getting forgotten and re-discovered, much to the pain of programmers and investors alike. If you ever find yourself involved with a software development effort, even as support staff or on the financial end, and the mention of Brook's book doesn't ring at least a few bells within the team, it is time to move on.
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