Ask HN: How to deal with managers who set a hard time-limit on fixing a bug?

The best thing to do is to put yourself in the manager's shoes.

1. They probably know less about the issue than you do, including the fact that they don't know what you don't know. 2. The cannot fix the problem themselves; they have to find the best people to fix the problem. 3. They also have managers (or customers) harassing them for answers.

They have two choices. The first is to get the issue fixed as quickly as possible so that they don't need to learn any detail about what the issue really is. If an issue is fixed quickly then everybody cools down and all concerned parties generally become disinterested. The one day deadline is most likely an attempt at option no. 1. The second option for the manager is to find out as much detail about the problem and be confident that they have the best team working on the problem. That way when they have to report to management above them (or to customers) they can do so with relevant information and confidence. Remember, everybody has a boss.

So, now that you know what your manager needs, you need to convince them that they need to follow option no. 2. You need to explain the problem in such a way that they can parrot that information upwards. You need to convince them that you are the best person to do the job. Furthermore, and this is the tricky bit, you need to tell them that you don't know everything but as soon as you find material information you will tell them. After your high level synopsis, swamp them with technical updates. Although these details may not be understood or relevant to your manager they contribute to the trust you need to build up as time passes. If your manager is good and you have been transparent with them they will begin to defend you in higher level meetings.

>Generally, when I've had to do this, it's been my fault for not manangeing properly.

This is key. Sometimes it's reasonable for a manager to coerce a team member into going above and beyond, but it's important that the team understand that it's not just because the manager really wants to meet their targets on the business side, and that somebody above the team member is responsible for the situation's existence.

The usual approach when management is this dim is to give a well couched opinion as to the reality of the outcome and then say sir yes sir or mam yes mam and that you'll give it all you got captain. The bug will take however long it takes to be fixed. Schedules will slip out as necessary and life will somehow magically go on. If you have reason to believe adding more resources of various types will help, then by all means ask for them, but there's usually no dealing with this kind of management dictate and arguing up front will just put you in an even worse situation than not making the deadline. You will be labeled the obstructor, not the realist.

Sounds like your team/company needs to establish SLAs. When it comes to troubleshooting the important timelines to commit to are communication timelines. First response with X hours. Updates every Y hours/days depending on severity/priority. You'll also want a clear process for establishing the criteria for diagnosing priority and what escalation paths should be when there are roadblocks.

Take a sick day.