Item — HN Reader

It's interesting that nobody has yet mentioned deliberate under estimating so that the project sounds like it will come in on budget. Basically, for political reasons.

Every project I've ever worked on in the AAA games industry was deliberately underestimated so the publisher is happy with budget going in, with the added benefit that you can put pressure on the programmers because they are behind schedule from day one.

1 comments

> with the added benefit that you can put pressure on the programmers because they are behind schedule from day one.

Are there still people who believe this works? I have been on teams who sometimes go into the super-effective mode where the team seems to work as one unstoppable goal-reaching mind. Yup, but this never happens due to external pressure, especially one perceived as bogus from the start.

"So you say we need to work "smarter not harder" because we are on "aggressive" schedule? Yeah, right. Can you please also hang some motivational posters around so we can watch them while we utilize the synergy to maximize shareholder value?"