Sure, it can go spectacularly wrong. It really depends on the manager. I don't know this story at all, but I can see two possibilities: 1) This is a know-nothi

Sure, it can go spectacularly wrong. It really depends on the manager. I don't know this story at all, but I can see two possibilities: 1) This is a know-nothing manager who doesn't really know much, but somehow correctly identified the problem and picked the correct number out of the air. 2) He actually understood the market, the competition, and ground operations so well that he was able to correctly identify the problem and realize that 10 minute turnaround was possible. I've had managers of both kinds. I was technical lead on a software project, and my manager was a PHB who never played with the software, and insisted that a positive, up-beat, can-do attitude could negate the actual facts. Which were that the software was going to be more time to build than he wanted. And then I've had the other kind, who understood the software, and therefore understood how much could reasonably be expected.