Nowadays, i donʼt meet such people too often. If i do meet non-technical people, they are intelligent enough that they donʼt make such comments.
However, i had my fair share of getting these and, surprisingly enough, most of these people were managers at high tech companies. Except for a few cases i was lucky and my immediate manager had my back.
When i wasnʼt that lucky, i told these people that i hope they are right and i will finish said work in that short time or that small effort. In case I donʼt, though, I give myself a buffer so i can meet the deadlines and as a best case scenario we can go back to the clients with a solution faster than we promise.
Yeah. Politics are ugly. If you mess it up, you play with your job. But if you allow non-technical managers to set deadlines without thinking it through, you play with your sanity.
I choose my sanity.