I've found executives don't like to be told no. If they want something done in 3 months, but it will take 6 months, let them know some options such as: 1) Pull

I've found executives don't like to be told no. If they want something done in 3 months, but it will take 6 months, let them know some options such as: 1) Pulling resources off of another project to help 2) Taking on tech debt that will make future development slower 3) Scoping down the work When given a task, I've explicitly asked which out of time, scope, and quality, is the most important to them. Another important thing to keep in mind is that you get to choose the situation you are in. For future jobs it might be worth carefully evaluating who you will be reporting to and working with and their background. Even if they are not an engineer, have they worked with engineers before? Do they have realistic expectations around timelines? Do they have a level of understanding to at least talk at a high level about what you are working on? If the answer is no, it might not be the right job for you. It's also worth understanding the working styles of the company you will join. I had previously been at a company with 100 engineers that focused on agile and used lightweight processes like tracking tasks on notecards in swimlanes on a physical wall. The next company I joined was over a thousand engineers and expected JIRA tickets for everything and writing large numbers of docs and getting sign offs from numerous people and departments before starting work. I know see that the first way of working is a better fit with my natural style, but you may fit in better with the second way. For your situation, it sounds like the non-engineers had unrealistic expectations of what could be done with ML and how fast. Was there a discussion around timelines and you ended up going greatly over them? Or where you just going off to work and then they decided you weren't getting enough done. I agree with everyone else who says that you have to understand your audience and tailor your message for what they care about.