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Comment by protomyth | Hacker News Reader

I still believe companies should approach software development like they are producing a TV show. Software development, as much as we try, is not an engineering process like widget production or bridge building. It is still by and large a creative process. I get the feeling a couple of show runners would have a better time of it than most classically trained managers.

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>Software development, as much as we try, is not an engineering process like widget production or bridge building. It is still by and large a creative process.

I actually think it's the opposite. Majority of the software projects (IMHO) out there are exactly like bridge building. For the most part you adhere to the same engineering principles, and depend on the budget/requirement, have some room for creativity. Some bridges are masterpieces and will last more than a hundred years while some others could collapse at any time.

Bridge building dates back to antiquity and has developed a rigorous knowledge base of tools, materials, and techniques.

Software development cannot even pick a language or paradigm with less than a century of experience. We do bridge builders a disservice for thinking that we are in their league with big project engineering.

The problem is that it takes 10 years to learn how to write software well. And after 10 years you no longer write software, you become a manager of people who are just beginning that process.

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