I have started reading Michael Cusumano's "The Business of Software". Its starting premise (software is not like other businesses) might be obvious, but there are very few management books out there that get at some of the subtleties and differences of the software business. Cusumano is SMR Distinguished Professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
"In how many businesses does making one copy or one million copies of your product cost about the same? How many businesses have up to 99 percent gross profit margins for their product sales? In how many businesses do many products companies eventually become services or hybrid companies (that is, providing some customization of product features and technical services such as system integration and maintenance), whether they like it or not? In how many businesses is there frequently a ten- or twentyfold difference in productivity between your best employee and your worst one? How many businesses tolerate some 75 to 80 percent of their product-development projects routinely being late and over budget, with 'best practice' considered to be 20 percent on time? How about a company where the people who build products often consider themselves artists rather than scientists or engineers and have the mercurial temperament to go with it? In how many businesses are customers 'locked in' to a particular vendor because of product decisions someone made a decade or two ago that can't easily be reversed?"
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