> It masks the fact that I have expectations as to when something should be delivered and does not communicate urgency to the team. But why mask the expectatio

> It masks the fact that I have expectations as to when something should be delivered and does not communicate urgency to the team. But why mask the expectations? IMHO the best thing you can do is it to communicate priorities (which is your job as product owner / manager), and then if you do need time-based estimations, work them out with the team -- with the clear expectation that they are provisional. Setting up expectations yourself, and possibly communicating them, but not down, is just a recipe for stress and desaster.