Excessive Schedule Pressure

  Scheduling  

Schedule pressure appears to be endemic to software development. Many managers and customers defend their pressure tactics by referring to Parkinson's Law, which states that work expands to fill the time available. "Give a developer four weeks to complete a task and he'll deliver in four weeks, but give him three and he'll deliver in three."

If project managers can force developers to deliver software 25 percent faster, shouldn't we always apply schedule pressure? Shouldn't this strategy be considered a best practice?

The following paragraphs explain five reasons why you should not put excessive schedule pressure on developers.

Risk Management

Project management is a discipline that includes many practices, including risk management. Every time you increase schedule pressure, you increase the likelihood of not meeting your deadlines. Let's get real. If your developer tells you it'll take him four weeks to complete a task and you only book three weeks in your project plan, there's a strong likelihood that your schedule is going to slip.

Many developers will be able to deliver "something" in three weeks, which might give you a false impression that you're on track. In order to deliver 25 percent faster, the developer will most likely cut corners. For example, he might have delivered before he had the chance to write and execute unit tests. Or he might have …

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