> Unreasonable management seems to be giving developers PTSD here. It's inexperience all around. Also, most places have no clear long term track, so people bou

> Unreasonable management seems to be giving developers PTSD here. It's inexperience all around. Also, most places have no clear long term track, so people bounce after 2 years rather than growing to understand each other. Managers are generally free to cut estimates in half, and move to a new role or move to a new organization when things fall apart. They're not trying to be villains, they have a lot of pressure coming from a lot of directions and think that estimates are bogus anyway, thanks to star trek and the occasional miracle that happens. (sometimes things really are much easier than they seem) Developers are optimistic, wildly underestimate, and feel bad when they miss them. The overreact and start massively overestimating. When they progress to the next stage they take the time to give a good thorough estimate to have it slashed by a manager, who knows they overestimate. Nobody sticks around long enough to really understand the state the other is in, so you get this vaguely Kafkaesque world that makes everyone a little crazy.