I misspoke. What you are describing comes from developer feedback but indirectly in a sense. This, I think, is a nice standard of measurement. Its when people solicit absolutely no feedback either in the form of past projects where hours are measured somewhat or what they just "feel" something should take. I'm all for metrics based estimation because that's how most developers would likely estimate. Its when management seems to pull things out of their ass to get a prospective client I have a problem with. I understand when we need money but I can also trace some of our worst clients to some of the most unrealistic estimates we've ever given. They're almost a 1:1 direct correlation and its like no one sees how much of a drain they can be all around.
I have been there, and feel your pain. It has taken me a long time to learn to say, "Oh, you told somebody that? Well, then you have a problem, don't you?" Of course, there are some companies that are so pathological that this stuff just won't get better: there's a broken feedback loop between the promises and the consequences. Ugh.
