Currently, at EC, we are working on launching our new CRM software: www.freedomcrm.com.
I always thought making a movie must be really fascinating, and hell it is! I say this not just as an outsider, but because I got an amazing chance to follow the complete production of a bollywood movie that my uncle is producing – Rivayat.
No connection between the 2 sentences above- well I have been doing both things simultaneously. And just realized, that both the processes, making of the movie and process of creating a new software, for any company, are so similar.
I have not carried out experiments to prove it, but may I suggest that people in the theater and the cinema do not sit in the same way? The theater requires attentiveness, and people must sit up alertly to see what is often a small area of concentration. Whereas in the cinema, the screen looms above us, and many people sink into reclining positions to watch. Some luxurious movie houses have seats that slide back to allow this posture. In the cinema we sometimes put our feet on the back of the row in front, loll across two seats, and damage the upholstery. Would this happen with a lively and commanding presence on the stage, or is it the result of a sort of loneliness in cinemas?
—David Thomson (b. 1941)
Like any software product, a movie starts with an idea, it can be anything, an inspiration, passion about something, some good cause, simply the idea of making money, or you are just crazy!. Then you write down the concept that becomes your IP (Intellectual Property) – the script. Most important similarity – you check what all your local competitors and international competitors (lets call them as mentors or innovators) have already done about the same concept and copy… oops – get inspired by what you like in them be it awesome scenes, good sequences, or an amazing GUI. Then you step forward and get a team together. And then all the regular HR procedures follow: interviews-casting, portfolios- resumes, packages and negotiations. Even confidential upper management hiring- isn’t there a similarity between Steve Jobs pulling in John Sculley for Mac and karan Johar making Shahrukh Khan cancel other dates for K3G;-).
Just like the software has to be completed in the stipulated timeframe, the movie has to be optimized during its production to hit the mahurat on time. And for obvious reasons of enhancements (dream sequences to be shot in Switzerland that not originally in the script) and precision (blowing away 10 cars instead of 5 for better effect ), the budget overshoots much to the apathy of the chairman. Designers and developers have to work in sync to give the software the creative touch and the superior functionality and so do actors and technicians. Except of course designers wont get that sort of fame.
After months of toiling hard, the movie is out for release. Lots of pre launch hype has to be created for the 'revolutionary’ product we have created. After lots of internal testing, it goes out towards the first round of live customer testing- the premier. These are the elite class of testers (software experts) who supposedly have all the knowledge of the taste of the world and often go wrong at that.
I think it’s awful and ugly and a complete waste of talent. Why is he wasting his talent? ... why doesn’t he make a movie that would uplift kids and teach them something? All this sex and violence, sex and violence. He’s like a dog chasing his tail.
—Elizabeth Stone, U. S. ex-wife of filmmaker Oliver Stone. As quoted in the New Yorker, p. 53 (August 8, 1994)
And now comes the big difference that makes the movie a really amazing product business to be in. There is no other product in the world, that comes to know its fate in a matter of 24 hours of its launch. A movie does! You know your sales, revenues, profit or loss- everything within 24 hours. And that’s it- no further fuss at it. There possibly cant be a business plan for any software that has its base over what happens in a span of 24 hours. This is a real highlight of making a movie. You don’t have to bother spending more on trade shows, altering marketing strategies, or do anything if things have gone wrong. Just leave it and move ahead J. You don’t have to keep trying again and again to make it right in spite of people making it clear that they don’t want you – steve ballmer should wish he would have consulted ram gopal verma before trying so hard with Zune;-)
And if it’s a Hit- nothing like it. You turn into God overnight. And like all successful softwares, what do you do when the world loves you- go in for the version 2.0 (read sequel) of the product.
Products from small companies are like documentaries – coming next.!.