Comment Depends on what "delivered" means (Score 4, Insightful) 347
I've worked on a lot of software projects that delivered the original specified product on time. Sometimes the target changes, and the stakeholders need to be willing to give developers the extra time they request to meet the new objectives. Too often I hear, usually from upper managers, "We are still shipping on schedule. Tell the developers to work harder." Of course, that's not realistic, and the result is a predictable "failure to deliver." Alas, the developers get blamed, when it's really management's fault.
On the flip side we have so-called "agile" development teams who simply define a deliverable as whatever they've completed on delivery day. These developers rarely tell management until the 11th hour that what they're going to deliver is below spec. Agile development has its strengths, but this aspect is a giant weakness. The solution is not to eliminate schedules. It's to adapt them to changing conditions and be proactive about slippages.
On the flip side we have so-called "agile" development teams who simply define a deliverable as whatever they've completed on delivery day. These developers rarely tell management until the 11th hour that what they're going to deliver is below spec. Agile development has its strengths, but this aspect is a giant weakness. The solution is not to eliminate schedules. It's to adapt them to changing conditions and be proactive about slippages.