There's an interesting video by Allen Holub that I've seen on the somewhat related topic of ridding software development of estimates (#NoEstimates)[1].

He argues that they're responsible for deadlines that are impossible to meet due to them being based completely on a guess. He then goes on to talk about how we can still get predictive power without giving estimates. I found it extremely interesting and highly recommend it.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=QVBlnCTu9Ms