Apparently, deadlines now matter around here. Who knew?
The current phase of work on the doomed project has been harried and busy for the past few days, because suddenly, we have a deadline that we really, really can't miss. I'm not sure why. Either our bosses just got tired of putting it off, or someone further up changed their minds about their priorities, or there's just an unwritten rule that being five months behind schedule is fine but behind six months behind is beyond the pale and really, really heinous. (And, remember, that schedule was highly optimistic from the start. And calling it "highly optimistic" is the diplomatic phrasing; more accurate descriptions include "crazy" and "a joke". The original schedule was based on compressing three years of work, much of which is out of our control, into one. The point is, we are and have always been working relatively fast given reasonable expectations.)
We actually are getting through this part faster than most, both because of general pressure on us and because we're getting more support. (Which is a polite way to say that people are actually showing up for meetings.) I still doubt we'll be completely finished by the alleged deadline of tomorrow, though. Partly because the only remaining points are sticky things that people have to recheck or run by third parties, but also partly because people aren't around. At least two key team members have been unavailable for most if not all this week because of vacations, and I myself am taking a four-day weekend. So one thing on my agenda today is getting another tech writer to help me with this.
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