[devdas]

Construction and manufacturing are usually about cookie cutter replicas, with log degrees of customisation. There isn't a feedback loop in the manufacturing line to product development once you have a stable product.

This is roughly analogous to corporate IT operations. There's a set of standard services which everyone uses, and there's no innovation on the desktop by most users.

On the other hand, with software and R&D, the feedback loops are primary drivers of generating information (and value). This is why so many of us preach about "testing in production" for web services.

The core of these two philosophies is pretty much summarised by two books: The Goal, by E. Goldratt (ISBN: 9780884271956 ). The Principles of Product Development Flow, by D. Reinertsen (ISBN: 9781935401001).