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Death March

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Summary

A project that participants feel will fail or requiring unsustainable overwork. Management forces team members to push through against their better judgment. It is often a result of overly optimistic expectations regarding schedule and scope and lack of documentation, training or outside expertise needed. Forcing the team to work extreme hours or throwing more people at the problem causes burnout. Causes include managerial incompetence in obtaining sufficient resources for the project and/or corporate pursuit of short-term maximization of profits.

Symptoms

Sources

[WIK’13], [BRO’98]