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copied!<p>Deadlines are part of a fundamentally wrong idea about how to do software development. People new to, or outside of, the software development industry do not understand this:</p> <p><strong>Software is done when it is done, no sooner and no later.</strong></p> <p>If a developer has a task and a week to do it, and it looks like it will take more than a week, nothing can be done to change that. No matter how much harder the developer works, no matter how many people are added to the task, it will still take as long as it takes (in fact adding people usually makes it take longer).</p> <p>Instead, read up on the agile development process. Software should be developed iteratively, and each iteration should be based on the results of the previous iteration, <em>not</em> on external requirements imposed.</p> <p>Edit based on the extensive comments below:</p> <p>I would never argue that developers cannot be held to some kind of delivery expectation. My point is in response to the <em>specific</em> hypothesis which the asker posed - that the nature of software development in business is somehow analogous to schoolwork, or any other kind of work for that matter. I contend that it absolutely is not. "Deadline" implies much more than a simple delivery date. It is a fixed point by which a fixed amount of work must be completed. Software simply does not work that way. I wrote a few more paragraphs explaining why, but honestly if you don't already believe that, nothing I say is going to convince you.</p> <p>If you are working on a software project and it is clear you will not be able to reach your deadline, what can you do to rectify that? The answer is well-known by now: practically nothing. You can't add more people. You can't "work faster". It's just not going to get done on time. You tell the stakeholders, everyone adjusts, and keep working (or not). What, then, did the original date mean?</p> <p>Anyone who claims software development is analogous to bridge-building or homework or that impending deadlines can still be met if the developers would just get their shit together and work their asses off, are deeply confused about their own profession.</p>

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