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0 pointsMattGaiser4y ago0 comments

At least everywhere I have worked, deadlines generally come down from on high, often with no real developer input. If you are lucky, your manager will be successful in fighting for more time. If you somewhat lucky, the missed deadline will be ignored. If you are unlucky, the deadline will approach and people will suddenly disappear.

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Cthulhu_4y ago

I mean the project management triangle comes into play then, and when it comes to SWE, throwing more money at a problem usually doesn't make it go faster.

Basically the higher-ups have to decide what is most important; if the deadline is fixed, then the scope HAS TO BE flexible.

thinkharderdev4y ago

There's a basic communication problem IME. When I've been in this position (an impossible deadline) it's been because some Sr VP or C-suite type decides that something HAS to be done by a certain date. Like, they want to unveil a new product/feature at CES or some other trade conference so the date is fixed. So this filters down through 3-4 layers of management to you, the dev lead who actually has to build the thing. You take one look at it and it is basically impossible and you can list the 17 reasons why. BUT the problem is that the person that needs to be convinced is the Sr VP/C-suite type. So your analysis has to go back up, filtered through 3-4 layers of managers, each less technical than the last. And of course nobody in that chain wants to disappoint their boss so they hedge/soft-pedal your analysis at every layer. Now the SVP/C-suite type, who typically does in fact have good reasons for wanting this project done by whatever deadline they set originally, only gets a watered-down, possibly incoherent version of you analysis of why the project is impossible by the given deadline. Not surprisingly, they don't find it convincing.

tl;dr; everything in a large corporation is a game of telephone where everyone is incentivized to muddle the message. So any deadline/commitment handed through multiple levels of management is really difficult to negotiate. And the more unrealistic it is, the harder it is the negotiate. Nobody wants to tell their boss that the thing they want done in 3 months will actually take 2 years.

pdkl954y ago

http://web.mnstate.edu/alm/humor/ThePlan.htm

  In the beginning, there was a plan, 
  And then came the assumptions,
  And the assumptions were without form, 
  And the plan without substance,

  And the darkness was upon the face of the workers,
  And they spoke among themselves saying,
  "It is a crock of shit and it stinks."

  And the workers went unto their Supervisors and said,
  "It is a pile of dung, and we cannot live with the smell."

  And the Supervisors went unto their Managers saying,
  "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, 
  Such that none may abide by it."

  And the Managers went unto their Directors saying,
  "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide by its strength."

  And the Directors spoke among themselves saying to one another,
  "It contains that which aids plants growth, and it is very strong."

  And the Directors went to the Vice Presidents saying unto them,
  "It promotes growth, and it is very powerful."

  And the Vice Presidents went to the President, saying unto him,
  "This new plan will actively promote the growth and vigor 
  Of the company With very powerful effects."

  And the President looked upon the Plan 
  And saw that it was good,
  And the Plan became Policy.

  And this, my friend, is how shit happens.

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