In graph search, the A* algorithm is faster because it relaxes constraints. If you have a heuristic to guide you, you get to the end faster than just feeling ar

In graph search, the A* algorithm is faster because it relaxes constraints. If you have a heuristic to guide you, you get to the end faster than just feeling around your immediate surroundings. There are problems with concept videos, though. Mostly, they seem like a sign of poor leadership. Concept videos aren't a plan. They are a sales pitch. There's only three reasons I can imagine you would need a marketing campaign (not just an elevator pitch and in-depth memo) for your plan - your leadership doesn't buy it, or your staff don't buy it, or there's infighting that is getting resolved internal marketeering. OK, maybe you need to excite the general public, but I doubt it. If Steve Ballmer (or his board) doesn't buy his own lieutenants' plans, it's a problem. If the engineers in MS need to be sold on the plan, it's a problem. And if executives are spending money and time lobbying Ballmer for more resources, that's expected in a big company, but if they think that slick videos are the way to go then things are getting out of hand. MS should be killing internal marketing, both the demand (dummy management not listening) and the supply (encouraging slick middle managers who think their job is to acquire more resources at all costs). There's various ways to do this (mostly techniques known as "communicating", "making hard decisions at the top", and "not putting up with the guys who try to pull this shit"). But first they should recognise that there's a problem.