Sometimes good projects just go bad; some projects are bad from the start. I've seen it happen where impossible deadlines and fuzzy deliverables result in people sleeping under desks, working breakfast/lunch/dinner(s), long weekends, and consecutive all-nighters. I had always used the standard terminology Death March to describe that kind of project because it seems fitting, i.e., a group of people slogging along with little hope, but I was chastised a couple of times for using a term with such negative connotations.So, I came up with a warmer, fuzzier metaphor. An impossible project will hereafter be referred to as a Disney Movie. It is the metaphorical equivalent a dog and a cat who climb mountains, fight bears (and win), ride logs over waterfalls, and eventually arrive safely back at home with the wholesome family to whom they belong - all more or less on schedule. (And then the family asks them to go back, fight a bigger bear, ride the log backwards, ...)
Previous Topic
