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I agree with this wholeheartedly. The article seems to be written by someone who has not yet learned the life lesson that "everything is a negotiation". There'

I agree with this wholeheartedly. The article seems to be written by someone who has not yet learned the life lesson that "everything is a negotiation". There's no such thing as a hard deadline. Everything is made up. What your manager is saying is: "To be successful in the market, I think I need to have X thing in Y days." It's the engineer's responsibility to provide information and estimates that will shape the business's direction. If you don't clarify or negotiate requirements based on your technical knowledge and experience and just take requirements as law written in stone you are not providing the true value of an engineer. If you are doing that - pushing back and grounding requirements in reality - and the business plows ahead with unrealistic goals anyway, then that simply means the people you work with are unreasonable and you should seek employment elsewhere. If they're not even willing to listen to people they're paying to have expertise then they're probably reading the market wrong too and I wouldn't trust them to be around long anyway.

ip26 6y ago
There's no such thing as a hard deadline. Everything is made up. "This video processing software needs to be ready by the Superbowl" or "This electronic voting software needs to be done by election day" don't strike you as hard deadlines?
- robocat 6y ago
  Often this video processing software wasn’t ready by the Superbowl, and this electronic voting software wasn’t completed by election day. You don’t get sacked, you just get to work on the next death-march project. And for your two examples, it might be punted to the next Superbowl or election. Hard deadlines are not often deadly.
  - ip26 6y ago
    So, what, it's only a true S̶c̶o̶t̶t̶s̶m̶a̶n̶ hard deadline if missing it means the guillotine?
    - bradlys 6y ago
      > So, what, it's only a true S̶c̶o̶t̶t̶s̶m̶a̶n̶ hard deadline if missing it means the guillotine? I mean, honestly, yes. That's kinda the point of "dead"lines, isn't it?
- binarytox1n 6y ago
  I guess that depends on your definition of "hard". Will the world end if you don't meet that regulatory deadline? No. Will the company survive? Maybe. Will you lose your job? Maybe. Are there other jobs for you? Yes.
- Igelau 6y ago
  When we can't change the deadline, it's obvious that we should shift the scope. If that breaks down, the problem becomes not losing your entire engineering team while the deadline looms.
- BMSmnqXAE4yfe1 6y ago
  Next game release must be ready for Christmas season, no matter what. Source: worked at EA.
  - cvhashim 6y ago
    I’m sorry
- hinkley 6y ago
  Election Day and the Super Bowl are both known years in advance. If we run out of time it’s because we waited too long to start. Finishing your term paper the night before it’s due was a thing we were supposed to outgrow in college.

ip26 6y ago

There's no such thing as a hard deadline. Everything is made up. "This video processing software needs to be ready by the Superbowl" or "This electronic voting software needs to be done by election day" don't strike you as hard deadlines?

robocat 6y ago
Often this video processing software wasn’t ready by the Superbowl, and this electronic voting software wasn’t completed by election day. You don’t get sacked, you just get to work on the next death-march project. And for your two examples, it might be punted to the next Superbowl or election. Hard deadlines are not often deadly.
- ip26 6y ago
  So, what, it's only a true S̶c̶o̶t̶t̶s̶m̶a̶n̶ hard deadline if missing it means the guillotine?
  - bradlys 6y ago
    > So, what, it's only a true S̶c̶o̶t̶t̶s̶m̶a̶n̶ hard deadline if missing it means the guillotine? I mean, honestly, yes. That's kinda the point of "dead"lines, isn't it?
binarytox1n 6y ago
I guess that depends on your definition of "hard". Will the world end if you don't meet that regulatory deadline? No. Will the company survive? Maybe. Will you lose your job? Maybe. Are there other jobs for you? Yes.
Igelau 6y ago
When we can't change the deadline, it's obvious that we should shift the scope. If that breaks down, the problem becomes not losing your entire engineering team while the deadline looms.
BMSmnqXAE4yfe1 6y ago
Next game release must be ready for Christmas season, no matter what. Source: worked at EA.
- cvhashim 6y ago
  I’m sorry
hinkley 6y ago
Election Day and the Super Bowl are both known years in advance. If we run out of time it’s because we waited too long to start. Finishing your term paper the night before it’s due was a thing we were supposed to outgrow in college.