I’ve been doing professional software development for nearly 10 years now. Throughout that time, I’ve worked at a number of organizations, I’ve been managed by a number of different people, and I’ve attempted to absorb as much knowledge (both technical and non-technical) as possible. After that long of a time, I’ve come to realize a bit about what makes me who I am, and what drives me as a person and developer.

As a technology professional on the development side of the house, I regularly have to provide estimates for when my work will be done. This work includes writing code, packaging up a deliverable, writing documentation, or anything in between. Following the estimate delivery, there is a level of trust that exists between the technology delivery team and the project/account management team in that the estimate 1) will not be inflated by the technology team, and 2) will not be altered by the project/account management team.

The Death March

In most development walks of life, any given software developer will run into a project known as a Death March. These projects have any number of problems, but the most typical ones are:

• Too much scope for the timeline
• Not enough resources for the scope
• Resources have the wrong skillset for the project