Developing software is like making a movie

Art+Craft+Logistics

Just as in making a film, when we build software we have a pre-production stage, where we write the script. That is the equivalent of requirements analysis and design.

Then comes production, when the whole crew, guided by the director, shoots the scenes and sequences of the movie. In software development we do the same thing: the project manager coordinates the team of programmers.

In film, post-production follows: editing, choosing or discarding scenes, finishing the special effects, adding the music, and so on. In software we have to test, approve, fix, polish, run the tests, integrate, test in production environments, write the operations manuals, define contingency plans, and so on.

Beyond the similarities, the film industry has many more lessons for us, and in a way they do a far more professional job than many software developers.

I hope we learn from the movies. Watch shows where film directors talk, learn from interviews with producers, read books about film, watch movies. You learn a lot from the making-ofs, which luckily come with the DVD editions of many films.