A cadence, a coming to a close that is misleading.  Instead of completion, it leads to a new beginning, or at least a new burst of energy that puts the real ending further into the future.

FalseEnding''''''s can be frustrating but also invigorating.

They can be frustrating in situations you have carefully planned.  FalseEnding''''''s don't fit structured plans very well.

They can be invigorating, especially in music.  I can never forget one time, in the height of that roller coaster ride called adolescence, when I heard the entire BeethovensFifthSymphony on the radio.  After the fired from a cannon entrance to the fourth movement, it seemed impossible to ratchet up the excitement any more.  But LudwigVanBeethoven succeeded by creating a number of FalseEnding''''''s.  Just when you think the piece was over, it came back to rise again and again, until you just didn't know when it was over, and when it was you were still spinning with joy at experiencing it all.  JohannesBrahms did some of the same things, but Beethoven was truly the master.

I wonder if the FalseEnding comes about in SoftwareDevelopment because problems are really layered (LayeredNature), or fractal (FractalNature), and clearing up one layer just lets you see clearly into the next, which still needs a lot of work.  Any ideas?

-- JeffMantei 2000-11-28

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Incidentally, WolfgangMozart used to be made to get up in the morning by his father playing some unresolved chords on the piano. He would be forced to get up and resolve them before his brain could no longer take it. -- MatthewTheobalds

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See: IterationExitCriteria