I work with software develpment. Technically (no pun intended), right now I work for a marketing company, but the department I’m in does a lot of…software development. Same for my last company, the one before, and two before that. Basically, I’ve been doing this kind of stuff for…a long time.

After thirteen years and four companies I’ve learned that one universal truth applies to all companies who write software: when the deadline rolls around, the finished product (if it is finished) is not what the original specs called for.

This may not actually be a universal truth; there may be some software companies who lauch on time and on spec all the time every time. However, since Microsoft and Sony are just as guilty as the rest of us when it comes to pushing back release dates and putting out patches after the fact, I’m going to assume it’s not money that would create such a phenomenon, and is instead a type of super bio-mechanical-manager whom I have yet to meet. Hmm…sci-fi idea…

So, this is a very rough sketch of how the whole process works (keep in mind, I am not a project manager, I am a database programmer. So if you are a project manager, please do not correct my illusion of the software development lifecycle):

1. Someone has an idea and convinces other people in the company to implement it
2. A list, or several lists, of what the idea needs to do, are created.
3. The list is given to the develpment team along with the note that if the project isn’t complete in time for the next big trade show, the company will flounder, everyone will lose their jobs, and Western civilization as we know it will crumble while overseas contractors take what they’ve learned from our code and go work for a competent company.
4. The development teams says “you’re kidding, right?”
5. The people who made the lists say “Uh, funny. No. Clock’s ticking”
6. One week before the career-ending trade show, developers are working eighteen hour days, not seeing their families (Yes, software programmers have families, they’re not hardware technicians..oops…industry joke…sorry), and figuring out how to make the software work best without some of the functionality they haven’t had time to create. The original list(s) of what has to be done looks more like a tick-tac-toe game or a football strategy, and what rolls out the door looks nothing like the original outline.

But as long as the team is competent, it still works, the customers are still wowed, and a patch is posted to the website a couple of weeks later to fix all of the bugs not caught in testing because they were created in a last minute build.

I’ve discovered that writing a novel is almost identical.

1. Writer has an idea.
2. Writer (either mentally or on paper) fleshes the idea out.
3. Writer sets goals for themselves
4. Writer laughs at their own goals
5. Writer convinces themselves to meet those goals in order to sate the demons
6. Writer spends many 18 hour days frantically creating the story and rarely seeing their family. In the end realizing that the finished product only loosely resembles the original idea because they are not the clone of every great author ever made and all of their talent in one body. Writer has to decide what to trim, what to add, and what they’re just not capable of/interested in adding to finish the piece.

For me, it’s detail. Setting, description, use of the senses…those are all things I have convinced myself I can leave at the minimal until someone absolutely convinces me that they need to be there. Dialogue and character development on the other hand, those just can’t be overlooked for me. It’s how I visualize what I write, it’s what makes the writing enjoyable for me. What is it for you? What can you leave out and what do you absolutely focus on in that first draft?