I agree that a little pressure can sometimes positively affect productivity, in the sense that it can reduce procrastination or improve mental focus.
However, what we have at TD are not shorter deadlines, but unrealistic deadlines that are very destructive. I'm not more productive, on the contrary, I'm thinking more and more about leaving.
Why are deadlines more tighter than ever?
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The smart people are focused on the activities that are rewarded which are, 1) searching for a new job, or 2) publicly virtue signalling about DEI by way of denouncing your white privilege and/or toxic masculinity in front of the entire company, etc.
The not so smart people are focused on the activities that aren't rewarded which include getting product out the door, helping customers, etc. The deadlines may seem tight, but management doesn't care if you miss all your commitments so long as you hit it out of the park on activity #2.
High attritition. Lots of new hires. Not too many experts left in the company to help. But the main problem is that management is not accounting for these issues, promising schedules that are not possible, and then not backing their engineers when milestones are not reached. Basically bad management and acquiescence to the bad planning from higher ups. Then the engineers get docked on their bonus if any while the higher ups still get large stocks. No wonder people are leaving. For the amount of work and ridiculous expectations, one can do a lot better mentally and compensation wise at other companies.
promises are made by higher management while ignoring actual timelines made by those who do the work. meanwhile those who do the work are under constant bombardment with DEI initiatives and culture change. who remembers the "privilege" email a year ago while many of our colleagues were let go, yet we hired another ELT member at the same time. I will never forget. I'm still here because the work i'm doing is exciting and challenging and moving the company in the right direction, but the leadership here sucks - can we just do our work - why the heck do i need to waste time writing a change story and attending endless meetings about culture. I've got an idea - how about letting us do our jobs. If we don't then let us go. If we don't act respectfully, warn us and then let us go if it continues. If we don't live company values, let us go. Pretty simple. Even with all the layoffs over the past few years - haphazard layoffs at best - there are still plenty of people just doing the minimum, but gosh do they love all this busy DEI and culture stuff.
Bad management.