zlacker

this seems to mainly be relating to pushing to an arbitrary date for creating something new but still sometimes dates are given to us because of some sort of regulatory reason or a company contract meaning that something needs to be done by a certain time - before anyone says don't make contracts like that: The Danish and Swedish parts of Thomson Reuters WestLaw were sold off to an English holding company, as part of the sale the sold off parts were allowed to remain on WestLaw for one year after which they would have had to pay approx. $165,000 dollars a month.

Obviously we got off of by that arbitrary date, and if we hadn't that would have been a value destroying mistake.

on edit: the weird monetary amount is my attempt to turn to U.S.D the DKK amount at the time which was 1 million dkk - iirc the dollar was at a low but it was between 161 - 165.

>>bryanr+(OP)
Also government contracts, at least in the US, have to be authorized by an appropriations bill from Congress. A federal agency can't just go to Congress and ask for an unknown amount of money to deliver a capability at an unknown date. Whether it ends up being right or not, and probably it usually isn't, appropriations bills have to be time-bounded and include a maximum dollar amount, and the awarded contract can't go longer or higher no matter what the engineers think it will actually take.

>>noname+H6
In which case it would be wise to be extremely conservative in your estimation, taking initial engineering estimates and padding them further, not whittling them down. Because a baby takes nine months and can't be safely rushed out in six no matter the acts of congress, presidential edicts, and demands from the grand poobah.

If you fix the dates, something else has to give. If time, cost, and scope are all fixed you're going to fail, almost guaranteed. There are always unknowns and in this scenario the only thing you've allowed to flex is quality.

I'm not saying you can't come in on time and under budget. This article spells out the dysfunctional dynamic of date pressure. By creating this much pressure from the beginning, you create an environment when corners are cut from the beginning and the problem compounds over time. The pressure-cooker mindset of management kills the quality of the project, even if the estimates did turn out to be reasonable.

>>jdbern+xy
> I'm not saying you can't come in on time and under budget.

Isn’t this what we tell our managers to make them feel better about our estimates? I’ve never ever seen or heard of a software project being delivered on time and under budget.