Death March
A project whose participants believe it is destined to fail, yet are compelled to continue — often with unsustainable overwork and leadership in denial about the outcome.
Origin
American software engineer Edward Yourdon popularized the term in his 1997 book Death March: The Complete Software Developer's Guide to Surviving "Mission Impossible" Projects, defining a death march as any project whose parameters exceed the norm by at least 50 percent. Yourdon — an MIT-trained mathematician inducted into the Computer Hall of Fame — drew the metaphor from the military term for forced marches of prisoners. A second edition followed in 2004, broadening the concept beyond software to any doomed organizational endeavor driven by unrealistic schedules, inadequate staffing, or willful management denial.