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One of the biggest taboos in “agile” environments is the question of delivery dates.
Anyone who has worked in these contexts for a long time already knows what is coming. As soon as that manager leaves the room, the complaint session begins:
“That’s how it is here — we’re not very evolved. Managers insist on putting dates on every single task.”
The taboo exists because, in many cases, the principles applied in these environments stem from idealizations — models generated in academic settings, with little contact with the reality of companies.
On this point, one of the things I love most about the Kanban Method is that it was not born at a drawing board. Kanban is “no judgment.” It carries the tagline that every good film should have: based on real events.
And in the world we live in, there are fixed dates, deadlines, due dates, and senior management teams with delivery expectations. There is also loss of competitiveness when something is not delivered on time — the famous opportunity cost.
Although agnostic to the delivery method adopted, Kanban does not shy away from critically analyzing the use of “fixed dates” and proposing sound recommendations for how mature companies should handle them.
Below, seven topics on how Kanban views fixed delivery dates.
1. Fixed Dates Are for Things Outside Our Control
Only dates that are outside our control should be fixed.
If you have a delivery that impacts the opening of the Olympic Games — that is the time to set a fixed date. If you need to produce that legal report to prevent the company from being fined — likewise. These are external, immutable events that justify special treatment.
2. Managers Should Not Use Fixed Dates as a Coordination Trick
Managers should not use dates to coordinate people. Companies with low maturity create fixed dates to compensate for lack of confidence in deliveries.
Anyone who has experience designing a Kanban system knows this happens very frequently. It is very common to find managers who insist on putting dates on every team activity:
“Put a date on everything, to guarantee delivery.”
This behavior reveals a trust problem — not a deadline management problem.
3. Mature Companies Manage Risk with Lead Time and Service Classes
The Kanban Maturity Model recognizes that highly mature companies handle their delivery risks in a more sophisticated way. To understand what defines each maturity level, see Kanban Maturity Model: Levels Explained with a Pizzeria. They improve their Lead Times, apply Little’s Law, and shorten long tails. Fixed dates are replaced by the concept of DDD — Desirable Delivery Date.
Trust between people is also high — making the use of dates as a control mechanism unnecessary.
For more advanced maturity levels, Kanban University offers a tool called Triage Tables, which helps combine opportunity costs with appropriate Service Classes to better handle delivery risks.
4. Fixed Dates Help Prevent Procrastination in Idea Generation
On the other hand, there is a context where using fixed dates is beneficial: in creative environments.
They help prevent procrastination behaviors and facilitate idea generation for development — the so-called Upstream Kanbans. In these contexts, using fixed dates is recommended to create discipline in a positive way, without stifling creativity.
5. Emphasis on Work Management, Not Time Management
Management from the 18th to the 20th century is rooted in time management. Kanban, on the other hand, emphasizes work management.
By giving great importance to how work is being done, a sense of purpose is created. With this, people’s engagement increases naturally — without needing a deadline as a pressure mechanism.
6. Limit WIP to Gain Focus — and Purpose
Instead of fixed dates, Kanban prefers the practice of limiting work in progress (WIP) to help people gain focus.
And trust me: people will stop starting and begin finishing. Engagement increases, happiness at work improves — and the positive impacts on financial performance emerge as a consequence.
7. We Are Adults and Professionals
Kanban believes that people within a business context deserve respect. No idealizations. No use of fixed dates as babysitters.
Heroes or Villains?
The honest answer is: it depends on the context.
Fixed dates are villains when used as substitutes for trust and flow management. They are heroes when they reflect real constraints from the external world or when they create the necessary discipline in creative environments.
Kanban does not demonize dates — it puts them in the right place. To see how this works in real high-volume contexts, read What Kanban at McDonald’s Can Teach Us.
Reference: Deadlines in Kanban: do they exist?