Why We Don’t Give ETAs
Most ETAs are nothing more than guesses dressed up as promises. Here’s why we don’t give them — and why you shouldn’t want them.
People love to ask:
When’s it coming? When will the new feature be ready? Next week? Next month? Next year?
We get it. Waiting is hard.
But here’s the truth:
Giving you an ETA is worse than giving you no answer at all.
ETAs are guesses in costumes
Software isn’t construction. You don’t just pour the foundation, raise the walls, and finish the roof. Every line of code is a new decision.
Every feature opens a new can of worms.
So when a company says “three weeks,” what they’re really saying is,
“If nothing unexpected happens, and we ignore all the things we didn’t think of yet, then maybe, just maybe, three weeks.”
That’s not an estimate. That’s a lie with a calendar attached.
Deadlines create the wrong kind of pressure
Once an ETA is public, the team isn’t working on the feature anymore — they’re working on the clock.
The job shifts from “make this great” to “make this fit.”
Corners get cut. Quality slips. Debt piles up. All so they can hit a date they should never have promised in the first place.
What’s the point of fast if it’s broken?
Priorities change — and they should
Great companies don’t march blindly toward old promises.
They adapt. They listen. They use new information.
But once an ETA is on the record, every change looks like a delay. Every shift looks like betrayal.
Suddenly, flexibility — the very thing that makes software better — feels like failure.
Competitors are watching, too
When you broadcast your roadmap with neat little dates, you’re not just talking to customers.
You’re talking to your rivals. You’re giving them time to catch up, copy, and counter.
Silence isn’t secrecy. It’s strategy.
What you really want
You don’t want “by October.” You don’t want “Q3.”
What you want is something that works. Something that’s stable, reliable, worth your trust.
That’s not tied to a calendar. That’s tied to readiness.
Ready when it’s ready
So no, we don’t give ETAs.
Not because we don’t care. Not because we’re lazy. But because rushing is easy, and quality is hard.
The best features don’t arrive on schedule. They arrive when they’re ready.