Those involved in software often seek to relate the often abstract activity of software development to other more concrete and familiar disciplines, such as physical forms of engineering and traditional crafts. However, rather than providing software development with a clear sense of identity, these perspectives often caricature other disciplines and teach us little about our own. For example, the imagery of craft is often associated with cottage industries free of corporate concerns and a gentle idyllic non-process process. By contrast, to invoke engineering the appeal is often to exclude the notion of craft and concern for aesthetics but to include a rigid idea of process.

The truth is inevitably richer, more complex and offers more insight. For example, the Institution of Structural Engineers states that "Structural engineering is the science and art of designing and making, with economy and elegance, buildings, bridges, frameworks, and other similar structures so that they can safely resist the forces to which they may be subjected." All of which makes quite clear that the profession of structural engineering is perceived by that profession as a more rounded and well-balanced discipline than the two-dimensional perception software developers and others might project onto it.

Interestingly, looking at the phrasing used to characterise structural engineering, there are only a couple of words that have to be replaced to arrive at a description that applies usefully and insightfully to software development. Significantly, although software development is ultimately concerned with the development of software (the clue is in the name), it should do so with economy and elegance.