Product managers, marketing managers, sales managers and customers will always push to add new features to your project. It is very hard for developers and engineers to argue against adding new features for many reasons including:
1-Customers and managers will always have a good reason for adding the new features (so they think). They are always so existed about the new features that they can’t listen to you.
2- Customers and managers will argue that you say “no” because you have to do it (in their mind; developers play Desktop Tower Defense all day long).
3-You, developer, are worried that they will go to someone else, and you will no longer be the go-to-guy.
So what to do?
Simply said: Play Their Game.
Managers and customers will always push the developers to add new features with the assumption that the golden three: cost, time and resources will not change.
So here is what you do:
1-Get really excited about the new features
2-Agree to add the new features
3-Congratulate them on coming up with the new features
Here it comes:
4-Tell them, very casually; that the new features will delay the project by 3 weeks and that you will need another tester for 1 week.
The magic:
Managers and customers will immediately stop you and tell you to forget about the new features and put them in the nice-to-have features list where they will stay there forever.
It works, give it a try, and let me know what you think.
As usual, comment, comment, and comment now!
PS: Wrote this post while listening to Dream Theater’s Systematic Chaos. Awesome CD!
4 responses so far ↓
Jarkko Laine // June 21, 2007 at 6:06 am
I recently read another blog post about why you should always say yes. In that post the key point was that when you say no the project/feature/whatever will be done anyway - just without you. And as a side effect, you’ll be seen as a negative person.
So, you’re right. Funnily enough, the best way to affect the end result (and thus say no to the feature) is actually to say yes.
Rami Nasser // June 22, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Good points Jarkko. It will be done anyway and when it delays the project, the developer is held responsible.
macwebdev // June 22, 2007 at 5:32 pm
I recently saw this in a project that my boss recently became a manager of (previously managed by someone else). The customer (actually someone within our entire company - not an outside client) kept requesting new features and the deadline was never moved out. What’s also bad is that the original deadline was based on two people’s efforts at 100%. Their actual time available is 80% for 1 and 60% for the other. Now that my boss has taken over, he told the customer that the project cannot be delivered by July 1. He said that without the new features the project can be delivered by Aug 7, with the new features, Dec 1. She agreed to Aug 7 with the new features. LOL. That’s NOT one of the options.
Rami Nasser // June 22, 2007 at 6:05 pm
lol, that is funny for us and sad for the developers
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