Software Ain't the Only Thing With Constraints

I spent yesterday at the dentist office, and while I was sitting there with my mouth wide open I got to thinking of how much teeth are like software projects.

So we were constrained on resources: the dentist, the assistant and the patient. 

We were time boxed: 90 min and out, according to insurance. 

We were given a task that we didn't fully know the details of: perform a root canal on a tooth with an unknown number of roots (3 - 5, apparently), an unknown number of cracked roots (0 - 3, or maybe 5), and on a patient with an unknown response to anaesthetic.

Sounds like a lot of software projects: constrained on time, resources, AND features.

And now I'm going to go try not to bite my tongue for a bit...