The Different Psychology of Projects and Maintenance
The psychology of a project requires closure, being able to feel it is done and allowing yourself to relax without nagging concern is a necessary part of the mind set. At the same time the idea of an end where everything will be okay means that project managers can call for heroic sacrifices from the team in order to acheive this. This is unlike maintenance, where the work goes on indefinitely. Maintenance requires a different psychology. Maintenance is not heroic, it just goes on. You cannot call for a supreme effort from your team to finish it because everyone knows that it will never be finished. As most software is developed during its maintenance phase the Project mindset may well be detrimental to the success of the process.