The Unicorn Project

CHAPTER 10

• Monday, September 29

Over the decades, Maxine has tried to explain to non-technical people how frightening code merges are. Her best description is having fifty screenwriters simultaneously working on a Hollywood script when they haven’t decided who the main characters are, or what the ending will be, or whether it’s a gritty, detective story or a bumbling sleuth with a sidekick.

They break up the writing responsibilities between all the writers, and each writer works on their part of the script in isolation, typing away in Word for weeks at a time. Then, right before the script needs to be finalized, all fifty writers get together in a room to merge all their work back together into a single story.

Of course, any attempt to merge ...