> Why can't engineers simply tell managers that it can't be done by the specified deadline They can. I've had a time where a project manager came by no less th

> Why can't engineers simply tell managers that it can't be done by the specified deadline They can. I've had a time where a project manager came by no less than 3 times asking me to re-estimate the same project, tweaked ever so slightly each time. Turned out that they had made an impossible promise to the client. Upon learning that, I just said, listen that can't be done within that budget, end of story. You have to go reduce the scope. In the end, they had to go back, loop in the account manager and have the awkward conversation with the client.