> other white collar work

Some examples of white collar work that builds long-lived assets but where the work isn't required to be amortized over long periods of time:

- marketing collateral development, unless it is done by engineers

- development of standard legal documents like contracts

- development of HR policy

- development of financial processes & associated reporting, unless done by engineers

- art development (e.g. for packaging and other collateral)

- building customer lists, unless it is done through software by engineers

- developing service offerings (e.g. Costco membership)

Software is not fundamentally different than any of these other white-collar assets that are used to build companies, except that it typically requires more ongoing maintenance.