I'm a development manager and so am obviously asked to give estimates all the time. I found many years ago that no-one reads the qualifications that go with est

I'm a development manager and so am obviously asked to give estimates all the time. I found many years ago that no-one reads the qualifications that go with estimates, they just want a date or a number of weeks' effort and assume that it's a commitment. I now play The Quality Game, which works every time. An example from a few weeks ago: I gave an estimate for a piece of work which has plenty of contingency. For any number of reasons, when I gave the date, I expected a sharp intake of breath from the client --- so I quickly added: "The reason for this is that it's a complex piece of work - I've allocated 2 developers and one DBA for 6 weeks, and then one tester for 4 weeks. It's complex and important, and there is no way that the team wants to compromise on quality. That's why it's taking so long. Obviously, if we can do it faster, we will. How does that sound?" No problem. I've played the Quality Game when telling clients that they need to upgrade to a later version, despite their having been told they wouldn't have to. Upgrading takes time and effort. Again, when quality is at the center of what you do, the logic is unassailable. ("WE could do it without you upgrading - of course - but our strong recommendation is that you upgrade. We're not saying this to piss you off, we're saying it because we want you to have the best quality product possible."). Dev teams and clients never want to compromise on quality. Sales people don't care, they have to hit their figures, but it's 2 against 1. We win. Thing is: it's not a game, it's just the truth. (Great article BTW, will share with colleagues!)