“It’s software. We can make anything!” Let’s not

My usual way of working involves asking a lot of questions to the people around me. So naturally, when I started in my current role as vice president of software development in a large multinational company, I did the same. I started talking to the developers and engineers about their projects, their ways of working, the challenges they were facing, their dreams, their hopes and their fears. I was particularly struck by the following sentence: “It’s software. We can make anything!” And it wasn’t just one person telling me. Many in my team were saying this, sometimes using these exact words, at other times phrased in a slightly different way. The consensus seemed to be that anything is possible.

This sounds pretty amazing, right? Anything is possible. Impossible is nothing. Adidas used it for many years as their brand campaign. These words, “anything is possible,” radiate positivity and hope. Endless opportunities await. There are no limits to what can be done. Who wouldn’t want to be in such a lucky position, in a profession without limitations in the physical domain?