Your manager, Ellsworth, asks you, “But is it possible?” He wants you to tell him that it is possible for you to satisfy a project milestone despite the argument you presented him for the past five minutes that the milestone was unrealistic.
You feel like you are on the witness stand. Jack McCoy, the character from the Law and Order television series, comes to mind. D.A. McCoy buttons his suit coat and approaches you on the witness stand. He sneers and asks, “Yes or no, Mr. Smith, is it possible to satisfy the milestone.”
If everything went perfectly, you could meet the schedule. But in development, you know things never go perfectly.
Ellsworth asked you the same question about a previous project, you replied “Yes.” But the required perfection failed to materialize and you were unable to meet the schedule. During your annual performance review, he reminded you that you didn’t satisfy the schedule. Despite your reminder about the arguments
shared with him that everything would have to go perfectly, he only remembers you saying, “Yes, it’s possible.” He uses the failure to justify giving you only an average salary increase.
You recall that Suzzanne answered Ellsworth’s question with a flat “No.” Despite her being right, Ellsworth branded her as someone who wasn’t a team player. She told you that Ellsworth rated her performance poorly during her review, which resulted in no raise.
You are facing a double bind, which means you are in jeopardy regardless of whether you answer yes or no.
You could say, “Yes, I estimate there is a 1% chance of satisfying the deadline.” But Ellsworth will only hear, “Yes, blah blah blah blah.”
Step back and look at what is typically happening in this situation:
Upper management imposes a deadline for delivery. Why? They believe the revenue forecast will be impacted if the schedule isn’t met
Working backward from upper management’s deadline, middle management (Ellsworth and his colleagues) create a project plan consisting of a series of milestones. Why? They want to gain agreement between themselves about what and when things must happen to satisfy upper management’s deadline
You hear about the milestones from your manager. Why? Middle management wants you to buy in to their schedule. An they want a sanity check for an egregious scheduling error they may have missed.
Now ask yourself, what haven’t I heard about? You’ve heard about speed of development. Middle management assumed that costs would be similar to the last development effort. But what you haven’t heard is anything about the quality of what you are supposed to deliver.
So another option for answering the question is, “Yes, and the quality of my part of the project will be poor. Ellsworth will again hear, “Yes, blah blah blah blah.”
There is another possibility. It’s risky; it requires a relationship with someone in upper management; and it requires you to be savvy about your company’s business. Use your relationship with someone in upper management to propose an alternative approach for satisfying the revenue objectives of the business.
“Is it possible?”
Some answers:
(1) I don’t answer yes-no questions.
(2) It is not probable.
(3) We can deliver a subset of the software by that date.
(4) I respect you too much to answer a question that might mislead you.
Dwayne, thank you for the feedback.
It doesn’t matter what you say or ask
(1) I don’t answer yes-no questions.
Ellsworth’s reply: Is your name Dwayne?
(2) It is not probable.
Ellsworth’s reply: Good, you agree it’s possible.
(3) We can deliver a subset of the software by that date.
Ellsworth’s reply: Greeeeaaaaattt! I’ll expect it to do everything we need.
(4) I respect you too much to answer a question that might mislead you.
Ellsworth’s reply: I can take care of myself. Answer the question.
The problem for Ellsworth is someone who he believes must be obeyed has spoken. He has been told that a failure to meet the deadline means less revenue. Ellsworth’s experience is that less revenue impacts the company’s budget, which may mean cuts in the payroll budget, which may mean a layoff.
I think managers like Ellsworth want everyone to believe it’s possible to meet the deadline, regardless of whether achievement requires a miracle. If you tell him it’s not possible, he won’t believe you and he may label you a heretic.
He might come around to your way of thinking if have thought of an constraint that is impossible to satisfy by the milestone deadline. But don’t expect him to give up, which he shouldn’t and won’t. He may rob Peter to pay Paul to eliminate the constraint by juggling the schedules for other milestones so that your milestone has the possibility of success. Or he may find another way to solve the constraint.
Ellsworth has the role of middle manager, which, in my opinion, is the toughest role in a company. I think the upwardly mobile middle manager is simultaneously trying to delight upper management and satisfy you and the other people at the bottom.
I don’t know a response to “But is it possible?” that will satisfy an obedient middle manager. If middle managers have reached the point where they need to ask that question, it’s already too late.
When reality interferes with the construction of the required story, reality loses.