[brightball]

Yep. I’ve preached this whenever I talk about dev process. The best way I’ve heard it framed was using two different terms: deadline and target date.

Target dates are internal goals, not tied to anything other than a rough estimate or a day somebody made up.

Deadlines are tied to contractual obligations, events, etc.

If it’s not a real deadline it’s a target and targets can move. Real deadlines mean you start talking about how to trim your requirements to have a shot at hitting it.

[Trasmatta]

In my experience "target dates" have a funny way of transforming themselves into deadlines over time.

[Jtsummers]

It's the confusion of estimates and plans with commitments. "How long will this take?" "About a week" "Great, ship it Monday morning" "Wait, if it has to be Monday then let's spend 30 minutes figuring out what needs to be shipped and what can slip until a later update release" "No, you said a week".

[brightball]

Like most things, it depends on leadership beating the dead horse to constantly remind people of the difference.