One post tagged with "communication"

Stop Giving Fake Deadlines: A Guide for Developers​

Giving a precise date for an undefined project is "career suicide." It leads to burnout, buggy code, and lost professional trust. When stakeholders ask for a timeline, they are often acting out of anxiety—seeking a number to feel like there is a plan.

The Core Rules of Estimation​

• Never give a single date: Always provide a range (e.g., "3 to 6 weeks").
• Match precision to information: Vague requirements deserve vague timelines. Precision requires detailed information.
• Prioritize truth over comfort: A "fake" date makes people feel good temporarily but fails the business in the long run.

Defensive Strategies​

1. The Range: Provide a wide window that shrinks as more is learned.
2. The Research Buffer: Ask for 48 hours to investigate before committing to a range.
3. Reframing: Ask what the actual goal is; solving the outcome is often more efficient than building a requested "mess."

Communication Scripts​

• The Risk Transfer: "If I give one date, I'm likely 70% wrong. I can say four weeks, but is that the certainty you're looking for?"
• The Discovery Proposal: "I can't give a real number yet. Give me two days to dig in, and I'll give you a range I believe in by Friday."
• The Honest Trade-off: "I can't do two weeks without shipping junk. I can either finish my current project on time or pull in another developer."

The Bottom Line: Being a professional means providing the truth so the business can make informed decisions. Stop making stakeholders comfortable with lies; start making them comfortable with reality.