Project teams repeatedly underestimate the time needed to complete project tasks. This paper examines a strategy known as backward planning that purports to counteract optimistic scheduling bias. Backward planning involves starting a plan at the end goal and then working through required steps in reverse-chronological order and is commonly advocated by practitioners as a tool for developing realistic plans and projections. Your PMBOK Guide refers to this as a backward pass when building out your network diagram. Wiese, J., Buehler, R., & Griffin, D. (2016). Backward planning: Effects of planning direction on predictions of task completion time. Judgment and Decision Making, 11(2), 147-167. And Mishra, D., & Mahanty, B. (2016). A study of software development project cost, schedule and quality by outsourcing to low cost destination. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 29(3), 454-478