The value-destroying effect of arbitrary date pressure on code

An Article by Gandalf Hudlow
Image from iism.org on 2021-08-10 at 9.31.59 PM.jpeg

The mandate from above is clear, just get it done! Avoid everything that's in the way: all advice, all expertise, all discovery efforts that detract from hitting the Date™!

What these organizations don't realize is that all software change can be modeled as three components: Value, Filler and Chaos. Chaos destroys Value and Filler is just functionality that nobody wants. When date pressure is applied to software projects, the work needed to remove Chaos is subtly placed on the chopping block. Work like error handling, clear logging, chaos & load testing and other quality work is quietly deferred in favor of hitting the Date™.

  1. ​Driving engineers to an arbitrary date is a value destroying mistake ​