> Early in my career, I learned a simple 'demo day' rule: never demo things that aren't end-to-end done. I've learned the opposite. If I communicate clearly t

> Early in my career, I learned a simple 'demo day' rule: never demo things that aren't end-to-end done. I've learned the opposite. If I communicate clearly that what is being shown is little more than a mock-up, executives of all levels and technical skill, all the way down to managers just above myself, all understand that a very thin and scripted demo is not anything close to a finished product. Describing the demo as a "house of cards" that will collapse with a single misstep gets the point across nicely, while also giving the demo audience an eyeful of what can be accomplished if everything is handled appropriately. Demos are carefully scripted and rehearsed, values are hard-coded, and absolutely nothing exists that does not prop up the demo for the purposes of the script and the talking points. It is hard to describe to someone who hasn't written an application demo like this just how little actually exists behind the UI. Anyway, my point is that if you choose the correct words, anyone can understand that it's like a painting of an application, and not an actual application, just like a painting of your mother is not actually your mother.