(2004-08-20) Highsmith Agile Planning Estimating

Jim Highsmith starts a thread on Planning and Estimating under Agile Software Development. I've spoken to a CEO, the director of product development and VP of marketing for a medical instrument company, and the director of development for a large software product organization. When I talk to them about dates and how they use them -- to understand the degree of uncertainty, to constrain the project, and to help the development team as early as possible -- I've heard nothing that sounds like arbitrary dates. These executives have a fiduciary responsibility to manage the investments of their companies, they have to make product release and product line marketing decisions (often months ahead of completion), and they have to balance resources across multiple products and projects. Telling them we can't give them dates and cost figures is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.