Death March, Second Edition

Chapter 9. Managing and Controlling Progress

	The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
	--George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903)

It's hard enough to negotiate realistic schedules and budgets with demanding customers, and then staff a project team to build the system, and identify the appropriate processes and procedures with which to do the work. Unfortunately, some project managers believe that once they've accomplished these critical steps, everything else will flow relatively smoothly. Quite understandably, it seems that the most difficult part of the project takes place at the very beginning: negotiating ...