[serpix]

Then when the deadline does whoosh by - nothing changes and the sun rises just as always. It turns out very many deadlines are not in fact hard, they were just thrown on the table in some meeting and everybody starts to act like it is the end of the world if that date is passed.

[anthonyoconnor]

Very true. Plenty of projects I've worked on have had immovable dates that suddenly become movable once you get close enough to them.

On the flipside though I do think a deadline is necessary for everybody involved, developers and managers alike. It really helps to limit feature creep. And it forces people to think about what they really want or need.