|
|
|
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Software And Movie Making, The Sequel
Dave Bernstein emailed me a reminder of an article by Walker Royce published in the September/October 2005 issue of IEEE Software, titled "Successful Software Management Style: Steering and Balance." In this article, Walker points out a number of parallels between software development and movie making. "Software project managers are more likely to succeed if they use techniques that are more like managing a move production than an engineering production." Movies products, Walker notes, are "professionals who regularly create a unique and complex web of intellectual property limited only by vision and creativity." He goes on to say that "a software manager's day-to-day decisions (like those of a movie producer) are dominated by value judgments, cost trade-offs, human factors, macro-economic tends, technology trends, market strengths, and timing."
Quote of the day:
Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
Dorothy Gale
posted by Grady Booch @ 8:24PM
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Software And Movie Making
I'm back from several weeks of travel, including a stint at the IBM Rational Software Developer Conference; you'll find videos of the keynotes and R-Heros episodes on IBM TV.
I was particularly taken by Mr. Shatner's comparison of software development and movie making. He noted that 75% of all software projects at Fortune 500 companies fail, 33% are cancelled, and 66% go over budget by more than 200%. How does he know this (as one heckler from the audience asked him)? Well, we gave him those details :-).
He went on to note that 90% of all movies fail, 72% of all movies that are started are cancelled, and every movie except the oddball one goes over budget. Mr. Shatner concluded by noting that software development and movie making are "inextricable bound by failure."
Quote of the day:
There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.
Erich Fromm
posted by Grady Booch @ 12:53AM
|
|
|
|
Blog
