{{< partial "deadly_cuts_head" >}}  
Date Driven Development is a prime reason most software quality sucks. In the consumer software world, this is especially true.

Most modern software ships continuously with a loose intent and at the mercy of a deadline. This scenario is soul-crushing. Why do people believe a date provides value?

## The Deadline

Death marches instill dread in software development professionals. The infamous [death march] is a grim reaper living within the memories of the damned. If you're unfamiliar, a death march forces software development teams to substitute life with work.

Woe to the software development professional caught in the death march.

_Software development goals should be human-centered._

- Create reliable products
- Build rock-solid architectures
- Value user experiences

That's not the modern software development world; the date is king.

## Alternatives

Blizzard Entertainment defied the due date. They produced top-quality products with dates out of sight and out of mind. Their products were a limited set of top-quality releases. Once upon a time asking about a Blizzard product release date would produce crickets. 🦗

Blizzard resisted Date Driven Development, and quality shined through as a result.

Today is a different story, but many companies fall prey to this anti-pattern.

_The entire software development industry should read Blizzard's history as an inspirational yet cautionary tale._

## Solutions

- Focus on human needs
- Test everything and be ready to ship now
- Deliver software value; dates don't deliver value.
- Under-promise and over-deliver

{{< partial "deadly_cuts_footer" >}}

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_march_(project_management)

[death march]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_march_(project_management)