I belong to a developer team in a senior position. I am not on the project management side. I am facing a frequent issue.
- Let's say our project's start date is 01-01-2018. The deadline of the project is also decided but without taking the development team into consideration. Let's say deadline is 01-05-2018.
- Now, as per step 1, everything gets planned and the development team starts working on a deliverable with 01-05-2018 in mind.
- Now, after one month or something, let's say 15-02-2018, we again get a new surprise that we have a new client and they want to deliver something by 01-04-2018 with many things that were not in scope during the initial plan.
- They want that without changing the plan for 01-05-2018. From my point of view this is not possible. (Our new team member is over his/her head initially; the on-boarding process took 3 to 4 weeks.)
- Now, the team is still not settled with the new plan for 01-04-2018, and receive new requirements, as someone new is in a top management position and thinks that the project is not up to the level. It is, as per specification and no direct complaints from the client, but the new member thinks that the UI needs drastic improvement. So many more changes are required - with the deadline still intact. (No new team members.)
The above happened over a short duration. It impacted team morale as well as the morale of the person who handles the team.
As per my thinking, there should be some concrete plan, at least for some period, if they want a delivery date intact.
What would be suggestion in this case?