I agree and would add the following criteria to identify the few rare cases where it is worth it to meet a hard deadline and where cutting scope is not an optio

I agree and would add the following criteria to identify the few rare cases where it is worth it to meet a hard deadline and where cutting scope is not an option. Specifically, if meeting the deadline is so important that it justifies unplanned overtime or a death march, then leadership should be happy to pay the team a one-time special bonus equal to 2-5x the time spent or even more. If faced with this choice leadership balks at the idea that’s a very good sign that a death march is unwarranted.