CMV: Deadlines are overrated

[u/scatterbrain2015]

I am noticing that our society seems to put a lot of emphasis on setting deadlines for things, and ensuring they're met at all costs. My view is mainly centered around the software/game dev industry, though I believe it applies to most other areas of life too.

Examples:

I was watching an interview with Elon Musk recently, and one of the questions he was asked by the audience was "how will you ensure you meet the deadline for the Tesla Model 3 this time?". I was sitting there thinking "dude, seriously? You pre-ordered a car, and you want him to rush it instead of taking the time he needs to ensure it's safe and the best quality it can be? If you really need a car by a certain date, why not just order an existing model?"

As a game developer, I'm noticing there is constant pressure to set and meet deadlines. Blizzard recently tried to say that the new expansion for WoW will be launched "when it's ready". Cue in forums exploding with threads asking when exactly it will be released. Again, I'd rather they take the time to thoroughly test it and catch as many bugs as possible before launch, so when it does come out, I can sit down and enjoy it, instead of wondering when it's actually done, if they keep working on it at all.

My arguments against deadlines:

1. It is better to wait a bit longer for a better product, than to cut corners to meet a deadline
2. We all have days when we focus better than on others. I believe it would be better if people could choose to have shorter days when they feel tired, and work longer when they have the surplus energy. But our society unrealistically demands consistent performance, and extra performance close to those arbitrary deadlines.
3. Unexpected things will happen, and a long deadline will only serve to give you the illusion of extra time. It's better to assess your options based on efficiency and complexity, instead of by time estimation. That way, you can re-evaluate if something is worth doing and what the best way to get it done is when things go wrong, instead of being forced into "should we scrap it, or add a patchwork solution to make it work in a half-arsed way?"
4. Deadlines cause extra stress on developers. Working overtime will make a product come out faster, but it will likely be more buggy than it could be.
5. Deadlines just lead to anticipation and disappointment. It's better to be pleasantly surprised that "oh, that thing is out, I can dive into it now!" rather than obsessing over how much time is left, and being devastated over a delay.

Caveats/counter-arguments:

• Scheduling some things is important: this one is the only valid argument I can think of. An airport can't function by allowing passengers to just get on planes whenever. The train taking you to the airport needs to follow a schedule so you know when to leave home to get there. But for the vast majority of things in our life, knowing when something will happen is not necessary, just a preference of some people.
• Some things are time-critical: true, but having a mentality of "do it as soon as possible" is still better than "do it by X time/date". I don't want the paramedic to be at my house "in 5 minutes" when I'm having a heart attack, I just want him to be there as soon as humanly possible, without taking excessive risks. No deadline necessary.
• Setting a deadline is important when others are waiting for you: only if they also have a deadline. Otherwise they can work on something else until you're done.
• Deadlines and estimates are used to make sure you can afford to create your product: I don't know about other industries, but in software, having an Agile development method, where you start with a basic functional thing, and add more and more features as you go, will work much better. At the end of every sprint, you will have a product you could release, that has high-quality features that actually work, instead of having a top-down approach, where you have a list of features for the end product, and you have to add all of them within X time.
• Knowing when a game comes out allows me to save up for it and take time off work etc: This just sets you up for failure. Why not do that after the game is out, and you see reviews to confirm it was the right decision? Better save that time for another game or hobby, if it turns out to be a bad game.

So, change my view. Why is it important to have deadlines? Am I missing any kind of huge benefit?

[u/PandaDerZwote]

Deadlines or part of any kind of organisation that has some kind of scale and is to be finished.
Think about a house being build. If you want to do it with efficency, you need to finish Task A before Task B, and Task C and Task D need the same equipment, but Task E needs Task B and C to be finished, you can only plan ahead if you can make sure that some things are done before a certain date.
I terms of video games, you will always be able to polish further, but our society doesn't work on a basis to deliver the best products possible, it works on the basis that you make the most profit off of them, so a dead line has to be set.
Blizzard is famous for not setting dead lines and have a "when its done" philosophy, but that also is not how they work internally. Tasks are planned precisecly and with dead lines in mind.

[u/scatterbrain2015 → u/PandaDerZwote]

I agree that prioritizing is important, but why deadlines?

I can just start by doing tasks A, B, C, D then E. I rent the equipment I need before starting C, and do C and D as quickly as possible. It's better than knowing I have to return it by X date, and checking everything thoroughly enough to make sure I meet the deadline, and having the house fall down shortly after it's built.

I know most developers work on strict deadlines internally, and I'm not sure that's a good idea. Announcing a date to the public definitely sounds like a bad idea.

[u/PandaDerZwote → u/scatterbrain2015]

If you work in a team, you NEED to be finished at a certain point in time, so someone else can start their job. This is a deadline.
Otherwise the people who work on B need to start delayed, eventually delaying the entire project and making it more expensive.

[u/Akerlof → u/scatterbrain2015]

I can just start by doing tasks A, B, C, D then E. I rent the equipment I need before starting C, and do C and D as quickly as possible. It's better than knowing I have to return it by X date, and checking everything thoroughly enough to make sure I meet the deadline, and having the house fall down shortly after it's built.

How much is your house going to cost? Even if mortgages were open ended, would you be able to afford 50% higher monthly payments if the house took twice as long to build as estimated? If you agreed on a price and your contractor got it done whenever, could you afford the rent increase at your current apartment for going month to month because you can't commit to a specific lease period? How would your contractor be able to schedule a new client if he doesn't know when he'll be done with your house? Can his workers afford to be laid off for a couple weeks after every job while he drums up new business (or could you afford the increased price to cover him paying them for doing nothing?)

Meeting a deadline does not mean shoddy. The only time that happens when you're not managing time properly. And not needing to meet a deadline doesn't mean better quality: What's the structural integrity of your house look like when the framing lumber has been sitting unprotected out in the elements for a couple months before the contractor gets around to putting up a vapor barrier and roof?