"We expect to sign it this week"

I hate it when sales guys commit me to an unrealistic goal without consulting me. I have one significant partner deal that we hope to conclude in time to make an announcement at a major user conference. It's pretty close to being done, but there's no guarantee. Funny thing is, the sales guy swore to the business unit executives that it would be done by the end of the week. This was in October, and he's repeated that promise so many times since then, he's lost all credibility.

I try to never promise too much, since my schedule is often subject to major revisions. I may have a straightforward document that will take me only an hour to turn around--until I get blindsided by a million-dollar deal that takes huge amounts of my time for the next several days. Many of these problems could be avoided if the sales guys did a better job at communicating what's in the pipeline instead of trying to give away the farm and then bring me in at the last minute for contractual damage control.