Hardware: You beat it first, then you put it in production. Be careful once it’s in because hardware can wear out.
Software: Software doesn’t wear out. You beat it first to get the bugs out, then you keep beating it forever.
For example, today I was thinking about regular complete software rebuilds (a good idea) vs. regular hardware reboots (not always a good idea). Just because that server booted fine this morning, doesn’t mean it’ll reboot fine right now. So watch hardware — it wears out, software doesn’t.