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Tom DeMarco

b. 1940

American software engineer, author, and consultant

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About Tom DeMarco

Born 1940. Tom DeMarco is an American writer, engineer, computer scientist, consultant and business consultant.

Tom DeMarco (born August 20, 1940) is an American software engineer, author, and consultant on software engineering topics. He was an early developer of structured analysis in the 1970s.

Early life and education Tom DeMarco was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He received a BSEE degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, a M.S. from Columbia University, and a diplôme from the University of Paris.

Career

DeMarco started working at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1963, where he participated in ESS-1 project to develop the first large scale Electronic Switching System, which became installed in telephone offices all over the world. Later in the 1960s he started working for a French IT consulting firm, where he worked on the development of a conveyor system for the new merchandise mart at La Villette in Paris, and in the 1970s on the development of on-line banking systems in Sweden, Holland, France and New York.

In the 1970s DeMarco was one of the major figures in the development of structured analysis and structured design in software engineering. In January 1978 he published Structured Analysis and System Specification, a major milestone in the field.

He is a member of the ACM and a Fellow of the IEEE. He lives in Camden, Maine, and is a principal of the Atlantic Systems Guild, and a fellow and Senior Consultant of the Cutter Consortium. Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency Random House, Broadway Books Division, 2001. Happy to Work Here: Understanding and Improving the Culture at Work with co-authors Tim Lister, Peter Hruschka, Steve McMenamin and Suzanne Robertson. New Atlantic (2021) Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior with co-authors Tim Lister, Peter Hruschka, Steve McMenamin and Suzanne Robertson, Dorset House (March, 2008). Winner of the 2009 Jolt Award. Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects with co-author, Tim Lister, Dorset House (March 2003). Winner of the 2004 Jolt Award. The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management. New York: Dorset House Press, 1997.Winner of the 1998 Jolt Award. Why Does Software Cost So Much? (And Other Puzzles of the Information Age). New York: Dorset House, 1995. Controlling Software Projects: Management, Measurement and Estimation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. Concise Notes on Software Engineering. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980. Structured Analysis and System Specification. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979. Software State of the Art: Selected Papers of the 1980s Editor (with co-editor, Tim Lister). New York: Dorset House, 1990.

Mainstream Fiction The One-Way Time Traveler. Artful Press, 2019. A Ruby Beam of Light. Double Dragon Publishing, 2016. Airship Nation. Double Dragon Publishing, 2016. Als auf der Welt das Licht ausging. Carl Hanser Verlag, 2015. (translated from "Andronescu's Paradox" ?) Dark Harbor House (a comic novel). Down East Books, 2001. Lieutenant America and Miss Apple Pie (short story collection) Down East Books, 2003.

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Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Education
Cornell University, Columbia University, University of Paris, Cornell University College of Engineering
Employers
Bell Labs
Awards
Stevens Award; IEEE Fellow

People in Tom DeMarco's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Tom DeMarco's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Tom DeMarco?

American software engineer, author, and consultant

When was Tom DeMarco born?

Tom DeMarco was born on 20 August 1940 in Hazleton.

What is Tom DeMarco's occupation?

Tom DeMarco is a writer, engineer, computer scientist, consultant and business consultant.

What nationality is Tom DeMarco?

Tom DeMarco is American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Tom DeMarco

· Wikidata: Q93115

· DBpedia: Tom DeMarco

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Tom DeMarco. https://biography.guide/tom-demarco/

MLA: "Tom DeMarco." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/tom-demarco/.

Chicago: "Tom DeMarco." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/tom-demarco/.

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