Tom De Marko:
> ...My [early metrics book](http://www.amazon.com/Controlling-Software-Projects-Management-Measurement/dp/0131717111)... most quoted line is its first sentence: _"You can't control what you can't measure."_  This line contains a real truth, but I've become increasingly uncomfortable with my use of it. Implicit in the quote (and indeed in the book's title) is that control is an important aspect, maybe the most important, of any software project. But it isn't.

> **...the more you focus on control, the more likely you're working on a project that's striving to deliver something of relatively minor value.**

> To my mind, the question that's much more important than how to control a software project is, why on earth are we doing so many projects that deliver such marginal value?...

[Software Engineering: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone?](http://www2.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2009/0709/rW_SO_Viewpoints.pdf)