A planned milestone date is treated as confirmation that the equipment or system is ready.
Open prerequisites are compressed into the final hours and the team is pushed to work around missing evidence rather than close it properly.
The programme date triggers a readiness review; it does not replace one.
Use evidence-based gate criteria with named owners and a clear decision for anything that remains open.
05 · FIELD TAKEAWAYA schedule tells you when you want to be ready. Evidence tells you whether you are.
This note describes a recurring industry pattern using combined and simplified examples. It does not represent a particular client or project.