They are all the same

[susandennis]

In my long and lurid career, I have worked for two major computer companies and two minor computer companies and the scenario never varies...

The company develops a Massive Revenue Critical Product.   The delivery date starts at the top of a virtual Calendar Slip 'n' Slide and comes out the bottom.  Finally management says 'get this sucker out the door or you are toast.'

So everyone agrees to a launch date - 6 to 12 months out. And announces the date to the world.

10-20 days from said launch date, those folks in charge of launch (*cough* marketing) wake up and realize OH FUCK, they actually are going to launch this sucker.  Wow.  We probably should have seen this coming...

It never ever ever fails.  They could carve this PowerPoint into stone tablets that will still probably get worn from overuse.

Comments

[jimcarson.livejournal.com]

The hilarious part is I have the problem, but the opposite offenders. The date is agreed to upon by everyone, including engineering. Marketing expects slip and slide, so we don't start the launch process until six months before a release.

Ten weeks prior to the major release, I ask development "we're 90% done. Will this thing be completed by [whenever]?" "Absolutely, no problem. We may even be done early." The printed ad campaign is started. Three weeks prior to launch, after marketing's check for the ad campaign has cleared, development sheepishly informs me it grossly underestimated how much is left and are really still "90%" done. "We need more time" they say. Realizing I'm fucked, "How much more?" "Six weeks." If I tell them they've just pissed away $15k of advertising and will cost the company $50k for each additional month's delay, they'll only hear clicking noises.

For the last minor release, I had built in 2 1/2 weeks of time into the schedule to "master CDs." Actually, it takes us ten minutes, but I don't tell engineering this because they'll suck up this time producing coasters for gold master CDs. And they do. We hit our GA date, sort of. They say "Yaaay, we delivered product on time!" (Thinking to myself: must control fist of death.)

[susandennis]

It's kind of a major miracle that anything ever gets to a consumer, isn't it?! Talk about survival of the fittest - despite the odds, often products actually get out there.

[howeird]

In all the larger computer companies I have worked for (HP, Sony, Microsoft), the release dates are scheduled years in advance, usually on a 5-year roadmap, so there is never a WTF moment. These are treated as target dates, not carved in stone. With Sony and HP they tend to meet their targets with a combination of experienced project managers and conservative engineering estimates. Not so much with MS.