Chronic Overcommittment

This piece on InfoQ really captures the dynamics of all the software companies where I have worked, and shows the root causes of the chronic overcommitment that plagues them.

http://www.infoq.com/articles/chronic-overcommitment

When an organization sells something it does not have, which is typical in deals made through the business development department, there is pressure to deliver as soon as possible. The customer would like it now, so in a sense the project is late from the very beginning: behind by design as I like to call it.