Managing software projects successfully has proven to be very failure prone when using the traditional engineering management discipline. Comparing the challenge of software management to that of producing a major motion picture exposes some interesting perspectives. Both management problems are concerned with developing a complex piece of integrated intellectual property with constraints that are predominantly economic. This article introduces some comparisons between managing a software production and managing a movie production, then elaborates four software management practices observed from successful projects. The overall recommendation is to use a steering leadership style rather than the detailed plan-and-track leadership style encouraged by conventional wisdom.