The Requirement That Ruined Christmas - a PMTALES HOLIDAY FEATURE
- D.B Trench
- Dec 28, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 29, 2025
PMTales.com — Behind the Gantt Chart
A Festive Tale of Misjudgment, Scope Creatures, and Seasonal Chaos
By D.B. Trench
Act I — The Email That Should Have Been Left Unsent
December 23rd.
That strange end-of-year twilight period when half the team is wearing festive sweaters and the other half is pretending the year didn’t happen. In the project room, deployment checklists were tucked neatly into subfolders, Jira boards looked deceptively calm, and someone had brought shortbread shaped like Gantt charts.
If you were quiet enough, you could almost hear the sweet hum of a project that might—might—reach the finish line unscathed.
Then, at 3:47 PM, everything changed.
Subject: Quick tweak before Christmas break
Message:“Should only take a few hours. No timeline impact. Thanks!”
There are moments in every PM’s life when the air shifts—when you feel the tremor before the eruption.
This was one of those moments.
The PM stared at the screen, sensing (with the instinct of a veteran trench-dweller) that this “tiny request” carried the faint, unmistakable scent of a Scope Creature—possibly even the dreaded Scope Emperor, whose mischief is documented in the Old Field Guide, somewhere between “Goalpost Mover” and “Chaos Gremlin.”
Outside, faint Christmas music played.Inside, a tiny requirement stirred.
Act II — The Mutation
By 4:15 PM, the truth was undeniable:The requirement was not tiny.The requirement was not small.The requirement was not even polite.
It was the kind of request that starts as a snowflake and ends as an avalanche.
The PM convened an emergency gathering—half the team still in the building, the other half reluctantly returning from baking cookies, wrapping presents, or mentally preparing to travel through two airports and a storm system.
Developer:“This isn’t a tweak. This is… structural.”
Business Analyst:“Does the requester know this affects the data model?”
Architect:“Does anyone have rum?”
Somewhere behind the fluorescent lights, something shifted—the faint echo of ancient Scope Emperor laughter, drifting between vents like a festive haunting.
The PM opened the Change Log. The Change Log groaned in protest.
Act III — The Christmas Eve Stand-Up
December 24th.9:06 AM.
The stand-up from hell.
The PM entered with the posture of someone who’d stared into the abyss and found a festive wreath hanging on its doorknob.
The team delivered updates with the grim honesty of soldiers describing battlefield conditions:
Developer:“Implementing it will break integration.”
Tester:“Testing it will break me.”
Architect:“I’ve had a vision, and in it, our deployment checklist is on fire.”
A soft thud was heard. Someone had dropped their gingerbread cookie in despair.
The PM tried reasoning:“Maybe we push this to January?”
The stakeholder replied instantly:“January is too late. It should only take a few hours.”
The PM felt an ancient, mythical rage—passed down through generations of PMs who had been told the same lie over centuries.
Somewhere, the Scope Emperor purred.
Act IV — The Turning Point
It took courage. It took conviction. It took the kind of clarity only produced by utter emotional and seasonal exhaustion.
The PM said the forbidden words:
“We cannot do this safely in your timeline.”
The room fell silent. Even the Scope Emperor paused.
The PM walked them through impacts, risks, timelines, resource strain, downstream effects, upstream chaos, and potential consequences involving fire—both literal and metaphorical.
Something in the stakeholder’s eyes shifted.
Perhaps it was reason. Perhaps it was fear. Perhaps it was the realization that their own vacation depended on this PM not snapping like a dry candy cane.
They exhaled.
“Alright… let’s revisit in January.”
And just like that, equilibrium was restored.
The Scope Emperor hissed and slithered back into the shadows, defeated… for now.
Act V — Trench Lessons of the Season
Every holiday requirement teaches a lesson.
1. “Quick tweaks” in December are never quick.
If it arrives wrapped in festive denial, assume the worst.
2. Urgency is not a project plan.
And holiday urgency is a whole different level of delusion.
3. Requirements mutate when unsupervised.
Especially after 3 PM.Especially near holidays.Especially from “just one more thing” stakeholders.
4. PMs must guard December like sacred ground.
If you don’t set boundaries…December will eat your roadmap.
5. You can always defer to January.
It’s practically a law of physics.
Act VI — The Quiet Victory
On Christmas Eve afternoon, the PM shut down the laptop, dimmed the lights, and whispered the ancient PM Trench blessing:
“Let no requirement disturb this holiday again.”
Outside, the snow fell softly. Inside, the project calendar—mercifully—stood still.
And somewhere in the vents, the Scope Emperor grumbled but accepted its temporary defeat.
For now...
Tools Recovered From the PMTales Armory
A few artifacts referenced in this tale are preserved for any PM facing similar holiday dangers:
Creature Cards (Portable Defenses)
Perfect for placing discreetly on the table when a stakeholder says “tiny tweak.”
Available in the Armory → Creature Cards Collection
Scope Creep Self-Defense (Academy Course)
Learn how creep emerges, how stakeholders disguise it, and how to defend your schedule, sanity, and holiday plans.
Available in the Academy → Scope Creep Self-Defense
Related Stories in the PMTales Universe
From the PMTales Dispatch
A perfect companion issue if your holidays were also derailed by “urgent” requirements.
All of them catalog the strange and dangerous creatures born from project chaos.
Happy Christmas…