Good point, I think the problem is not having The Date but as you allude to, having a top-down fearful environment of missing The Date. In an ideal world we wou

Good point, I think the problem is not having The Date but as you allude to, having a top-down fearful environment of missing The Date. In an ideal world we would be able to communicate The Same Date all the way up and down with an understanding that personnel issues come up, sometimes estimates aren’t accurate, requirements change, etc. Maybe we expect The Date to only be hit 50% of the time and we’re all chill with slipping a few weeks/months/quarters depending on the size of the project. This allows you to set dates that force you to prioritize (don’t delay shipping forever to add random features) without burning people out or shipping software that’s not ready for prime-time. One problem in large organizations (especially ones that grow fast) is there is no common understanding of what deadlines/targets/The Dates mean. New engineers and management come in from environments where missing The Date is met with unpaid overtime or being fired, getting yelled at, etc. This causes problems when people with the opposite understanding - The Date is flexible and just a loose target - set Dates without padding or fully scoping something, or the opposite when those people become beholden to dates set by people who take them extremely seriously.