We have a big release due to the customer in a few weeks. A large portion of the tasks have been assigned to me. The first task was to estimate how long the work would take. Luckily I have been working on this project for a long time. Therefore I was able to produce a high fidelity estimate as to how long it would take.You would think this would be a project manager's dream. A worker can tell exactly how long a task would take. If I was able to work the amount of hours listed in the estimate, I would be able to produce the software update. That is just too simple. If there is one thing I have learned in this life is that nothing is ever simple.
When the time came in the schedule to start working on the release, I got down to business. Then the inevitable happened. My boss said I needed to work on another task. I told him I was busy on this software release. He told me something else was more important. This happened every single week that I was working on the software update. One week I had another task that took up the whole week.
This is all fine and dandy with me. I did my part and warned my manager that if you have me work other tasks, and you don't have somebody else come in to work the software release, the thing is definitely going to be late. My boss told me he would deal with it. Now we are late on the software release. The guy who leads my team said the customer is unhappy that things are late. And some big boss promised the release would get done next week. Hello? I got the feeling that I'm going to be getting a visit from a big boss that has pointy hair. I just know it. Unlucky me.
