I was on a continuous death march project at my last job. Constant crisis mode got old real fast. When I was asked for a time estimate, it would generally go like this:
Lead: "How long do you think this will take you?"
Me: "Two months"
Lead: "I already promised the customer we would have it to them in 3 weeks."
Actually meeting a deadline happened so rarely I'm surprised people weren't constantly getting fired (no one got fired that I know of. Well, except our CFO for some undisclosed malfeasance). In reality, people just got burned out and quit. One especially smart guy left after only a month on the project.
After my first few failed attempts to meet an impossible deadline, I just gave up trying. I worked a straight 8-hours and left at the end of the day, waving at the missed deadlines as they sailed by. Still couldn't get fired. Damn, guess I'll have to quit. Got a new job for a small pay cut (though in a lower COL city).
I don't mind the very occasional crunch. Stuff happens. But my tolerance level for "constant crisis mode" BS is just about nil nowadays. I must be getting old.
I also worked in similar environments where sales people already promised unrealistic deadlines to customers. But you have to know the 3 weeks is not your deadline, you said 2 months, it's the lead's deadline, he is just trying to shove the hot potato on your lap.
There's a great quote for this: "Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part".
> Actually meeting a deadline happened so rarely I'm surprised people weren't constantly getting fired
There's the problem. Developer performance was being measured according to a framework in which it was likely to fall short. This is because for many problems software development is inherently exploratory and difficult to spec out up front in sufficient detail to know in advance where the surprises are. If one is worried about being fired for not meeting deadlines, one should probably quit as soon as possible and find better work.
Lead: "How long do you think this will take you?"
Me: "Two months"
Lead: "I already promised the customer we would have it to them in 3 weeks."
Actually meeting a deadline happened so rarely I'm surprised people weren't constantly getting fired (no one got fired that I know of. Well, except our CFO for some undisclosed malfeasance). In reality, people just got burned out and quit. One especially smart guy left after only a month on the project.
After my first few failed attempts to meet an impossible deadline, I just gave up trying. I worked a straight 8-hours and left at the end of the day, waving at the missed deadlines as they sailed by. Still couldn't get fired. Damn, guess I'll have to quit. Got a new job for a small pay cut (though in a lower COL city).
I don't mind the very occasional crunch. Stuff happens. But my tolerance level for "constant crisis mode" BS is just about nil nowadays. I must be getting old.