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Ninety–ninety rule

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32: 168:). The anecdote expresses both the rough allocation of time to easy and hard portions of a programming undertaking, and the cause of the lateness of many projects in their failure to anticipate their difficult, often unpredictable, complexities. In short, it often takes both more time and more coding than expected to complete a project. 188:, this rule also surfaces when a task is portrayed as "relatively done." This indicates a common scenario where planned work is completed but cannot be signed off, pending a single final activity which may not occur for a substantial amount of time. 148:
The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time.
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This adds up to 180%, making a wry allusion to the notoriety of software development projects significantly over-running their schedules (see
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The rule is attributed to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs, and was made popular by
157: 288: 141: 256: 239: 25: 200: – Self-referential adage referring to time estimates 240:"Programming pearls: Bumper-Sticker Computer Science" 181:, in which it was titled the "Rule of Credibility". 56:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 175:'s September 1985 "Programming Pearls" column in 19:For the American educational funding policy, see 206: – Theorized increase of longevity with age 146: 233: 231: 218: – Ironic phrase in software development 8: 255: 116:Learn how and when to remove this message 16:Humorous aphorism in computer programming 287:Mantle, Mickey W.; Lichty, Ron (2012), 227: 166:software development effort estimation 7: 54:adding citations to reliable sources 14: 30: 41:needs additional citations for 1: 329:Software project management 216:Small matter of programming 355: 18: 290:Managing the unmanageable 244:Communications of the ACM 178:Communications of the ACM 186:agile software projects 334:Programming principles 162: 238:Bentley, Jon (1985). 134:software engineering 130:computer programming 65:"Ninety–ninety rule" 50:improve this article 257:10.1145/4284.315122 339:1985 introductions 293:, Addison Wesley, 138:ninety-ninety rule 300:978-0-321-82203-1 126: 125: 118: 100: 346: 304: 303: 284: 278: 277: 259: 235: 210:Pareto principle 198:Hofstadter's law 160: 121: 114: 110: 107: 101: 99: 58: 34: 26: 354: 353: 349: 348: 347: 345: 344: 343: 309: 308: 307: 301: 286: 285: 281: 237: 236: 229: 225: 194: 161: 152: 122: 111: 105: 102: 59: 57: 47: 35: 24: 17: 12: 11: 5: 352: 350: 342: 341: 336: 331: 326: 324:Computer humor 321: 311: 310: 306: 305: 299: 279: 250:(9): 896–901. 226: 224: 221: 220: 219: 213: 207: 201: 193: 190: 150: 140:is a humorous 124: 123: 38: 36: 29: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 351: 340: 337: 335: 332: 330: 327: 325: 322: 320: 317: 316: 314: 302: 296: 292: 291: 283: 280: 275: 271: 267: 263: 258: 253: 249: 245: 241: 234: 232: 228: 222: 217: 214: 211: 208: 205: 202: 199: 196: 195: 191: 189: 187: 182: 180: 179: 174: 169: 167: 159: 155: 149: 145: 144:that states: 143: 139: 135: 131: 120: 117: 109: 98: 95: 91: 88: 84: 81: 77: 74: 70: 67: –  66: 62: 61:Find sources: 55: 51: 45: 44: 39:This article 37: 33: 28: 27: 22: 289: 282: 247: 243: 204:Lindy effect 183: 176: 170: 163: 147: 137: 127: 112: 103: 93: 86: 79: 72: 60: 48:Please help 43:verification 40: 173:Jon Bentley 154:Tom Cargill 313:Categories 223:References 76:newspapers 21:90–10 rule 266:0001-0782 158:Bell Labs 106:June 2017 192:See also 184:In some 151:—  142:aphorism 274:5832776 90:scholar 319:Adages 297:  272:  264:  136:, the 92:  85:  78:  71:  63:  270:S2CID 97:JSTOR 83:books 295:ISBN 262:ISSN 132:and 69:news 252:doi 128:In 52:by 315:: 268:. 260:. 248:28 246:. 242:. 230:^ 156:, 276:. 254:: 119:) 113:( 108:) 104:( 94:· 87:· 80:· 73:· 46:. 23:.

Index

90–10 rule

verification
improve this article
adding citations to reliable sources
"Ninety–ninety rule"
news
newspapers
books
scholar
JSTOR
Learn how and when to remove this message
computer programming
software engineering
aphorism
Tom Cargill
Bell Labs
software development effort estimation
Jon Bentley
Communications of the ACM
agile software projects
Hofstadter's law
Lindy effect
Pareto principle
Small matter of programming


"Programming pearls: Bumper-Sticker Computer Science"
doi
10.1145/4284.315122

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