- If someone asks when something will be done, they are asking for the date when they can use it.
- Every day, ask yourself what could happen to make it so the software won’t be ready to use by that date and do something about that.
The result of project management is that the software is ready to be used on the publicized date.
The details about how to figure out the date should be, what it will be, negotiating that difference, how to communicate it, how to change it, who “they” are, what “they can use it” means, changing that definition, what kinds of problems could happen, what to do about a problem, how to track all of this, etc is what project management work is, but in the end it just boils down to those two things.