A few months ago, we chose to add some new features to SVS and change “SVS 2.0 SP2″ into “SVS 2.1″. This is causing customers to wait longer for some important bug fixes that were targeted for 2.0 SP2. In my first draft of this post, I went into all of the details of the decision and explained our QA process and so forth, in hopes that you would appreciate why one project and one release is ultimately better for customers. But I don’t want to go through all that; since SVS 2.1 beta 1 shipped, the heat seems to be off. Everyone is happy with the performance fixes and many customers are rolling the 2.1 beta into production as if it were in fact 2.0 SP2. Still, I wanted to vent a bit of frustration over an issue that most (if not all) software PM’s are familiar with.
I’ve been criticized for giving target dates that don’t pan out. This is one of the perpetual headaches for Product Managers — customers, partners and your own management demand specific target dates for their own planning purposes. Yet in software development, dates almost always change. This truly is an “it’s done when it’s done” industry. I’ve read a lot of articles on this topic over the years, and it’s clear that the only way to avoid the pain of “delays” is to not set delivery date expectations to begin with.
PM’s hope that everyone will remember the nature of the beast when they ask for (and get) the target dates they so crave. But few do. Target release date changes; people get upset. I can — and will — personally make an effort to minimize the use of dates, but it would take a company wide culture change to solve the problem at Altiris, and an industry wide culture change to solve the whole problem for customers. If you want people like me — who understand the problem but are caught in a Catch 22 of, “tell me! No, don’t tell me!” — please stop asking. Software company senior management won’t stop requiring PM’s to specify target delivery dates until customers and partners stop asking for them.
I’ll make a public commitment that I myself — from this day on — will not use dates externally. If a Director or VP wants to get one from me and pass it on, let it be. But I promise you that I will do my best to not be part of the problem.
Excelsior!
