It&#x27;s kind of like building a model with clay or with sticks. The clay model is going to look nicer with rounded curves and no wasted points. The stick model will have bits sticking out.<p>However when you get 30 people working together to make a big model, the clay model is going to start looking very strange indeed. Different people will have different finger pressure and shape the clay differently. Some people will make more right angled parts with the clay which will clash with the parts of the clay that are carefully smoothed out. Someone might spend a week fixing a perfect parabola for a curve at the top of the model just for someone else to bend it off to the side with an ugly twist to fit with the other side of the model.<p>30 people on the stick model? Not really a problem. All the sticks look the same. Anybody who needs to attach one side of the stick model to something else just needs to grab a stick and tie it on. You won&#x27;t see a perfect stick parabola, but then you also won&#x27;t be stuck with a strangely twisted piece of clay.<p>You can always create a style guide for using the clay - always keep between a 30 and 60 degree angle on joins. Apply one finger of pressure when doing joins. And so on. Sometimes this works with very diligent reviews that keep everything in place, but as soon as a crisis comes up or the model needs to pivot urgently? Everyone rushes to touch up the model in the quickest way possible and your model starts to get a bit thinner on one side than the other, etc.<p>So there&#x27;s nothing wrong with choosing a great clay model that fits well into your hand and you can shape effortlessly - but you need to remember that sometimes the &#x27;painfulness&#x27; of using a model made out of sticks can be a big blessing when you&#x27;re trying to massage a bit of clay that someone else pressed a bit too firmly on.<p>EDIT:<p>Also, when you&#x27;ve been making and using models for awhile, the stick models get an added benefit: you can browse through the stick models really fast based on only their outline and be able to understand very quickly how they work. Pretty clear why: the rigid sticks form a very distinct outline (think interfaces and forced directory structure in Java). Being a stick model expert therefore has very good job mobility and high demand.<p>Each clay model is generally more unique and requires some study to understand even if it does look nicer.