Define: "Sandbagging" in Business
Multi-headcount capital waste
"Always pad your estimates by at least 40 percent. If you finish a two-week task in two days, your only reward is another two-week task with a two-day deadline."
The practice of setting conservative performance targets or timeline estimates to ensure predictable delivery.
What does "Sandbagging" actually mean?
"Multiplying every project estimate by three so you can finish by Tuesday afternoon and still get praised for heroic execution on Friday."
"Accurate capacity forecasting requires eliminating sandbagging during quarterly sprint commitments."
"The infrastructure team is sandbagging the firewall cutover estimate because they know the VP will slash their timeline in half anyway."
By The Chief Waste Officer
18 years in the corporate trenches quantifying waste so you don't have to.
Related Terminology
Tired of hearing this?
Next time someone says "Sandbagging" in a meeting, track exactly how much company money they just wasted. Play Buzzword Bingo, generate a waste invoice, and stop the bleeding.
