[BillBohan]

I agree with afarrell that lying is not advisable. Lying is a very bad thing. Convincing someone else to do a bad thing is even worse.

The method I used when I was Software Development Manager was to ask one of the programmers how long he thought it should take (or estimate it myself). Then I told management that it would take 3 times that long. We usually could make that deadline but it was often close and sometimes a little late. I have since learned that it will take PI times as long as you think.

Telling the programmers that they have half as long does no good. They will not write code any faster. It may even distress them and a distressed programmer produces less code causing it to take longer.

FYI

Consider carefully what I say; my first computer program compiled and ran in the summer of 1967. I have typed in a program while both Bill Gates and Paul Allen watched over my shoulder. I'm retired now but still work daily on a subgame for minetest.