[bluGill]

Often the people at the top understand. However what most developers fail to understand is the guy at the top really needs accurate estimates. the more accurate the estimate the better he can do their job. Thus they are constantly loohing for a magic bullet that gives them that. it doesm't need to be perfect, but the closer the better.

[brightball]

It's not that they need accurate estimates is that often sales people want to share those estimates externally, so anything that takes longer due to unexpected complexity becomes an accountability issue.

[erik_seaberg]

The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect should have taught us not to sell things that don’t exist yet and possibly never will.

[bluGill]

There is a balance there. sometimes you need to sell on the next version's features to get enough now to develob that. Not everyone gets unlimited venture capital - and it isn't always a good idea to take it if you can.

[skydhash]

Accountability is everywhere, but software managers are always looking for the silver bullet that would let them have a stellar reputation of being on time.