Distant Date Commitments
Fixed scope committed to months in advance causes pressure to cut corners as deadlines approach, making quality flex instead of scope.
Planning and Estimation
Estimation, scheduling, and mindset anti-patterns that create unrealistic commitments and resistance to change.
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Anti-patterns related to how work is estimated, scheduled, and how the organization thinks about the feasibility of continuous delivery.
| Anti-pattern | Category | Quality impact |
|---|
Velocity as a Team Productivity Metric
Story points are used as a management KPI for team output, incentivizing point inflation and maximizing velocity instead of delivering value.
Estimation Theater
Hours are spent estimating work that changes as soon as development starts, creating false precision for inherently uncertain work.
Velocity as Individual Metric
Story points or velocity are used to evaluate individual performance. Developers game the metrics instead of delivering value.
Deadline-Driven Development
Arbitrary deadlines override quality, scope, and sustainability. Everything is priority one. The team cuts corners to hit dates and accumulates debt that slows future delivery.
The 'We're Different' Mindset
The belief that CD works for others but not here - “we’re regulated,” “we’re too big,” “our technology is too old” - is used to justify not starting.
Deferring CD Until After the Rewrite
CD adoption is deferred until a mythical rewrite that may never happen, while the existing system continues to be painful to deploy.