Death March, Second Edition

Chapter 3. Negotiations

	Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
	--Nelson MandelaStatement from prison, Feb. 10, 1985, refusing the terms offered for his release by South African President P.W. BothaQuoted in Higher than Hope, Part 4, Chapter 30, Fatima Meer (1988)

If you're the manager of a death march project, it's very easy to predict the outcome of negotiations over budget, schedule, and resources: You lose. This is almost inevitable, because such negotiations take place at the beginning of the project (or even before the project is formally initiated), when the project owner/customer has neither the intellectual ability, the emotional stamina, nor the political necessity to accept the unpleasant counter-offers ...