I'm realtively new at this job and got into a project that is currently half-way into its planned schedule.<p>There are no words to describe how poorly this project is running. Nothing is really happening. No coding, no thinking. Customer believes that we will deliver. Well, customer is also failing miserably on their own commitments on this project, so they are not questioning our progress. The target date could be moved, but that won't help. The problem is, no one really documented the problem we need to solve. The description is still evolving.<p>The project started with a silver-bullet solution (and slides) that doesn't require problem to be defined first, making it easy for the customer. That might make sense for an architecture, but when it comes to coding, the team needs to know why they are coding.<p>The customer is very happy so far with all the impressive slides we delivered. Not sure how far we can keep sending slides only.<p>My management can only appreciate late working and daily horror stories of technical problems. That indicates hardworking and progress to them. They celebrate and reward late working and getting into technical issues. People feel proud to be stuck in simple problems and talk highly about it.<p>I'm pretending that everything is normal, just like everyone do (or they believe it?). I don't think it is good idea to disturb them with truths. But I don't know how these guys will deal with the eventual failure at the end. May be customer doesn't care because of their own failures? How can I learn to be one of them and be happy? May be it is just me thinking too hard in life?
I'm not sure what you're asking.<p>If the target hasn't been defined, it's likely it will be missed. That it's tied to a date is secondary. Not "disturbing them with truths (as you seem them)" is irresponsible, but it's not always obvious how to go <i>about</i> presenting the facts-as-you-see-them.<p>It seems like both your team and the client need a hard-reset to take a step back, decide what everyone actually wants, and to figure out a way to actually achieve something beyond mental exercises.
If I were you, I'd start applying and interviewing at other companies. It sounds like your managers are incompetent at best, unethical at worst. This doesn't sound like a company where you'll be learning, growing, and doing work you'll be proud of.