Pune Skt Dictionary !

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Prof Vinayak Bhatta, director of Deccan College and chief editor of the
Sanskrit Dictionary project, is quoted as saying:

> “Give me 50-100 scholars and I will finish the project in no time”.
>

In the now-classic work of project management, *The Mythical
Man-Month*<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month>,
Fred Brooks argued compellingly that adding more people to a delayed
project does not necessarily speed up the work.

The reason for this is that more people means more inter-personal
communication, and the person-to-person links rise at a rate that is
exponential to the number of people.

I do think that the Poona dictionary project would benefit critically from
additional personnel, but probably not "50-100."  And the configuration and
management of the working groups would be just as important as the added
numbers of staff.

Brooks has many important and interesting things to say about conducting
projects, falling behind, and optimum staff numbers and configurations.
His central insight has now been immortalized as "Brooks's
Law<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks%27_law>."
As he noted drily, "Nine women can't make a baby in one month."

Best,
Dominik


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