The desire to deliver to a specific date is understandable—particularly in politics—but it’s also one that should be resisted to the greatest extent possible. To paraphrase Shigeru Miyamoto, a delayed product can eventually be good, but a rushed product is forever bad.

The limits of the political calendar means that there would have to be an impeachment vote relatively soon—but even here we can see the benefits of the Story Map in setting priorities. Investigators can define the most essential aspect of each element, keeping them focused on what must be done and also giving them what people in IT call the definition of done—which is the point at which you recognize the diminishing returns of continued work and move on to the next action item.

Even after its creation, the story map continues to be a guide for the team. It provides a visualization of everything they agreed to pursue and how close they are to delivering the critical elements. Even if the team takes longer than expected to complete their tasks (perhaps because someone has ordered witnesses not to testify), the map provides resistance against the urge to deploy before the work is completed and the product is ready.

And if by some miracle (perhaps the White House chief of staff basically cops to everything for no reason), the list of must-haves provides the team with the confidence that they are ready to deploy.