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From: kmagel@plains.NoDak.edu (ken magel)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: analogies with film production
Message-ID: <10401@plains.NoDak.edu>
Date: 15 May 91 20:02:17 GMT
Organization: North Dakota State University, Fargo
Lines: 14


      In this news group there has been some recent discussion on which human
endeavor should be used as a model for software development.  Some have argued 
for a relatively stable and predictable activity such as building construction.
Others have argued for a relatively artisitc activity such as film making.  
      Is film making really a model which software developers want to emulate?
Consider the current state of commercial film making:  most of what studios
and independents put out is not successful.  No team or individual film maker
has an unbroken string of commercial successes.  The criteria for a 
successful film are unclear ( entertaining, money-making, innovative, great 
acting, important story) and even when criteria might be agreed upon, the 
customers generally disagree on how well a particular film meets those criteria.
There are even people who are bored by Casablanca or Citizen Kane and neither
actually made a lot of money.