[easyfrag]

"Deadlines are always arbitrary. Deadlines are a tool used by managers to control costs. That is their only purpose. Often, managers try to justify deadlines by citing other dependent deadlines, but those deadlines are always just as arbitrary." - Alan Cooper

[leoc]

Perhaps this is a useful exaggeration to make a point, but taken at face value it's simply nuts.

[watwut]

That is actually true. And very very applicable to software development.

[WrtCdEvrydy]

Chris Voss' book "Never Split the Difference" goes into this.

He posits that bad deals come from people being strict about artificial deadlines... and it's better to have no deal than a rushed deal. Try it next time someone tells you there's a hard deadline... just tell them you'll deliver when it's done.

[EForEndeavour]

> just tell them you'll deliver when it's done

Not trying to be facetious here: I'd love to have this level of freedom from deadlines, but the grim reality is that it'll remain fantasy for most people at most stages in their careers.

Me: "I'll deliver when it's done."

High school teacher: "Suit yourself. You'll lose 10% of your final grade for every day it's late."

Government: "We've assessed a late fine because you missed our entirely arbitrarily set tax filing deadline."

Grad school supervisor: "You submitted the final copy of your dissertation four days after the administrative deadline, so you're stuck paying another semester's tuition."

Boss: "You're fired."

[WrtCdEvrydy]

The book doesn't say to defy deadlines... it just states that almost every negotiation has the deadline being an arbitrary thing being chosen at random.