Rushing Effect

I had a question recently asked how to prevent the "acceleration rushing as project advances" effect. I covered an approach that allows for meaningful planning and expectations based off real impact?here?in some detail so I am not going to go over that detail again.

The answer how to stop doing things that encourage this behavior is as simple as it is difficult - stop doing it. Do something else instead. Even if you don't follow the approach I outlined, follow another approach (or don't but understand you are now fulfilling the definition of insanity and repeating the same actions expecting different outcomes).

But before you do pick a different approach - spend at least some time thinking about and identifying your behavior patterns. Ask yourself - am I estimating my work in chunks small enough to be accurate and predictable? Am I tracking progress based on those estimations? And if I am exceeding estimates - am I changing estimates or what I am working on? Or both?

If the answer to all of the above is 'yes' and you are still experiencing the rushing effect then I am out of answers. You are in a position where you estimated everything that needs to be done accurately, you planned to that and then... you did not do follow that plan for some reason?

If the answer to any of the above is 'no' then you need to stop and go over your planned roadmap with a healthy degree of critical thinking. Be skeptical about both your original estimates and the value the intended path is supposed to be delivering.

Most importantly understand that what you are dealing with is constraints. Namely they are threefold - scope, time and resourcing.

If you are experiencing scope creep (aka moving goalposts) the way to deal with that is by re-estimating based on additional requirements and adjusting timelines accordingly.

If you are experiencing scope creep but cannot move the timelines you can increase resourcing - withing reason and understanding that 9 women cannot give birth to a baby in one month - or saying no to the additional requirements.

And finally, if you are experiencing scope creep, cannot move the timelines, cannot say no to additional requirements and cannot add additional resources - then you are destined to experience the rushing effect because there is nothing else in play that can be done besides cut corners and deliver poorer quality.