This story reminds me of https://despair.com/products/consulting https://despair.com/products/consulting. Also law 23 from https://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins

This story reminds me of https://despair.com/products/consulting https://despair.com/products/consulting. Also law 23 from https://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins_laws.html https://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins_laws.html seems appropriate: The schedule you develop will seem like a complete work of fiction up until the time your customer fires you for not meeting it.