Software is created once. If it runs on more than one computer, it's just copies of the actual result of that one time creation. If it's improved with new featu

Software is created once. If it runs on more than one computer, it's just copies of the actual result of that one time creation. If it's improved with new features, then that's a new unit, itself created once. The effort goes into the creation of the one thing, not the copies. Version 1.1 is not version 1.2. This observation is often used to point out that "software is different" from cars and other hardware. Cars and hardware have lots of chances for defects, but software copies are essentially perfect. Assembly line products are not copies like a package or disk is a copy; each finished unit has lots of effort in it. But if you still want to use the hardware example, find what the equivalent products are. A lot of effort goes into physically assembling a car, and then the car cranks out transportation. A lot of effort goes into physically assembling a software team, and then the team cranks out software. And while of course there are profound differences between a car an a human team, it might be useful to put engineering resources into designing and producing a team.