Lois Lane Planning

This organizational antipattern occurs when management or sales overcommits to deliver features of a product with the knowledge that even though the features aren't ready, developers will rise to the occasion to ensure they will be. They promise the client that the features are ready or soon will be, and then after they realize that the system cannot support their commitments, they call for help from developers. Development staff over-exert themselves to try to rescue the organization and prevent reputational damage often derailing more important long term efforts. When developers come through and rescue the organization, management / sales becomes all the more emboldened that they can get away with taking unnecessary risks, and the process repeats often with even riskier overcommitments. After enough time, develoeprs becomes frustrated and exhausted sometimes leaving, code is done in a rush suffering in quality, and important long-term projects become delayed or shelved indefinitely.

Quotes

"This is the last time. I promise." - Sales