Many projects have poorly defined (and often overwritten) priorities, hopelessly optimistic schedules, and overflowing bug trackers that are occasionally emptied out of frustration in a mysterious process called "bug bankruptcy." But for some projects, everything seems to go right. What's the difference? Avery gathered the best advice from the best-performing teams at Google, then tried to figure out why that advice works—using math, psychology, an ad hoc engineering simulator (SimSWE), and pages from agile project management textbooks.

We answer questions like:
Why are my estimates always too optimistic, no matter how pessimistic I make them?
How many engineers need to attend project planning meetings?
Why do people work on tasks that are not planned?
What do I do if new bugs are reported faster than I can fix them?
Should I create one version with two features or two versions, each with one new feature?
If my bug tracker is already a hopeless mess, how can I clean it up without going crazy or declaring bankruptcy?

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