> Nothing wrong with management picking dates, as long as they understand that they're movable. Or the scope is flexible. This is basically why I prefer "agil

> Nothing wrong with management picking dates, as long as they understand that they're movable. Or the scope is flexible. This is basically why I prefer "agile" or incremental work. I'll do my best to work on the highest priority things given to me, one step at a time, and I'll leave no loose ends every week/month/etc that would prevent shipping software. If we get to that management-picked date, the choice is theirs to determine if the product is good enough to ship. This is the only way I've seen "scope negotiation" actually work. Otherwise you waste tons of time in meetings (while the clock is ticking) negotiating future hypotheticals, or product pushing you to cut corners writing tests or whatever.