>> If it is not in the Blueprint, that you signed, it is extra.
>
> This. 100x this.
>
> If ONLY our boss would understand how CRITICALLY IMPORTANT it is to
> agree on EXACTLY what we're supposed to be delivering BEFORE we promise
> to deliver it in exactly X weeks...
>
> Or, for that matter, if he would ASK somebody how long it will take
> BEFORE he promises the customer how long it will take?

What happens here:

They (project manager/planner) will ask the people who know how long it 
will take, get told it will take 18 months. They'll moan at you, tell 
you to cut out stuff and squeeze the schedule to make it 12 months. So 
reluctantly you agree to 12 months with cutting out all this stuff and 
squeezing the schedule to a high-risk one (ie nothing unexepected will 
happen... we all know how that goes).

Then they'll be in a meeting with the customer/senior management, get 
pushed hard to deliver it sooner, and just agree that 8 months is fine. 
Also they'll forget to mention all the stuff that was needed to cut out 
to make it 12 months.

Then they mention "oh yeh by the way it's 8 months now". Yeh, that's not 
going to happen. "well it's agreed with the MD now so we can't change 
it".  Well we can change it, in 8 months time it will have to change!

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