At some of the software companies where I used to work, I remember the silence that would fall — not to mention the faces — every time some disgruntled bearer of bad tidings let it be known that yet another software release date had slipped. Sometimes there was a reason, like our biggest new customer wanted a certain piece of functionality by yesterday.

And sometimes there was no reason at all. It was like the weather. It just happens that way. Software always winds up delayed. What can you do?

It turns out there’s plenty you can do to set up a situation at your company where software is released on planned, publicly announced dates — dates that don’t slip.

Yes, it is possible to set software release dates and meet them every time. And the benefits this brings in terms of predictability and stability lead not just to better software development but more motivated employees in any number of departments.

It’s worth every minute of your effort to move your company onto a development schedule with fixed dates. Read on for some suggestions about how to go about it, and what to expect.

Note: A past issue, The Development Plan: a Dose of Reality, provides tips for dealing with hard to schedule development tasks.