Every sprint plan will go sideways. Every project timeline will hit unexpected problems. This isn't pessimism. It's pattern recognition from years of leading engineering teams through hundreds of delivery cycles.

The question isn't whether your estimates will be wrong. The question is: have you already decided what to cut when they are?

I call this approach Tactical Work Shedding, and it's a reliable practice I've used as a tech lead collaborating with product managers on sprint planning and feature delivery.

I like to joke that every problem, at its core, is a communication problem.

It’s true more often than not, mainly when the problem involves well-meaning individuals.