Why the intangibility of a software systems poses special problems for software management?

Intangible system is that system whose services are not visible; it means you cannot touch it. If we have a software system that is intangible in nature then we have to face various problems i.e. buggy software products and customers, who are unsatisfied with the products they receive, customers' inability to know all the requirements in advance. The reason in behind these problems is that

· The first outcome mentioned clearly derives from a cognitive factor: testing software products is not an easy or trivial task;

· The second outcome derives from a social issue, namely the communication channels between customer and developers.

According to me, the main reason is that software is a unique intangible entity with which the human mind has not been shaped to cope during its evolution; therefore, our ability to deal with such intangible artifacts is limited. It can be rightly argued that many intangible entities have been dealt with during human evolution. Software is not only an intangible product; it is also executed on a computer. This means that the developed artifact is not the one that is actually used by its users. The same argument that highlights software uniqueness is very well applicable also with respect to other artifacts, such as knowledge and the emerging discipline of knowledge management. Software is an intangible entity increases the need for verbal communication between teammates and between customers and developers. When a team works on an intangible entity it is harder to build a relationship of trust. The reason for this is that under the common belief that knowledge is power, with both its positive and negative aspects, it is easier to hide knowledge when the subject being dealt with is an intangible entity (simply because it is easier to hide the fact that knowledge is not being shared).