A bit off topic

So, this is a bit off-topic, but it's something that has been on my mind, and I would love some feedback from folks.

I'm not the first person to say something like, "There's quality, budget, and timeframe. Pick two". We hear that all the time. Sometimes we even hear things from people saying pick one, or marketing talk saying that they deliver all three. But in all cases, people tend to agree that these three factors are the things to consider when releasing some product or service.

I think they're wrong. I think that timeframe is total bunk. Here's why.

Budget is a finite thing. You have x number of dollars to dedicate to a project. Obviously you can manage that money better or worse, or get more later, but at any given time you can look at your bank balance and see how much money you can spend on your project. Quality is the only thing that sets you apart from your competition (assuming that you have competition). Of course, there are cases when you let the quality of something slack because of this reason or that. But I would think that most people would agree that a product that is worth buying and a bit over budget is better than something that fell under budget but no one on the planet would want to purchase.

That leaves time. Here's the thing: Deadlines are arbitrary. That's right. If you set a deadline, you set it because of some opinion you had about that timeframe ("we do things in 1 month pushes", or "I want to be done before next year"). But if the deadline isn't met, what happens? Does anyone die (keep in mind I'm talking about websites, and things like that, not doctor's offices)? No. Nothing at all happens.

What about investors? They want their money (or at least a report on the money) by a certain time. Why? Because they think that is a good time for it (for tax reasons, for personal reasons, whatever). But in all cases it's still arbitrary. Every time there is some "unbreakable" deadline that people complain about, follow the chain of people who set that deadline, and I would be willing to bet that the ultimate reason for it is, "Some dude thought that was a good time to be done, and everyone else got all worked up about it".

Lastly, there have been several really great studies that have shown that the primary factor in success is the ability to delay gratification. So the people who freak out about deadlines are the ones that will fail anyway (okay, okay; correlation and causation, blah blah blah... just go with me on this), and so the work being done will be for naught.

One of my past jobs was all about getting things done as fast as possible, releasing new features every week to "compete", etc etc. Woe be to those who missed a deadline. That company is now out of business. How many other times has this same pattern been followed?

Now, that's not to say that a self-imposed deadline is always bad. It provides inspiration, and a goal. It allows a person or group to schedule times to talk about the project, etc. That's all good stuff. I'm just saying freaking out about it isn't a good idea, and learning to delay deadlines for the sake of future success is probably a better idea.

What are your deadlines? What happens if you miss them? Are your feelings when those deadlines are missed in line with the results of missing them?

How much stress do we add to our lives because of something as simple as a person saying "Monday is better than Friday"?

What do you do in your life to release some of that stress? How does it effect you?