Published at Scrum Alliance on April 2, 2007

Since grade school, we’ve been taught that being “late” is bad. Tardies and assignments turned in after the due date do, after all, “go on your permanent record.” With plan-driven project management and traditional status meetings, a similar stigma is attached to a project that is running behind. A late project is often met with pressure, questions of the team’s level of effort, or a reflection on your competence as a project manager. This lifelong association between late and bad leads to behaviors that can cause more harm than good when dealing with project work. These behaviors include popular games like:

• Status Chicken. Who will be the first to admit the project will not come in on time?
• Spin the Message. Find euphemisms like “things are a little tight” or “we ran into a little rough patch"
• Catch-up Fever. Convincing management and yourself that we can “make up the time” or that we need “just one breakthrough and progress will increase dramatically”
• Pressure Cooker. Turning up the heat by insisting the team work extra hours to get the project back in line.