T-minus

A way of dating a plan by how far it sits from the event instead of by calendar date. T is the event itself, so T-12 weeks is twelve weeks before doors and T-0 is show day. Written as T-12, T-2, or in full as “T-minus two weeks.” It earns its place two ways. It carries the reason inside the label, because “registration opens at T-8” says something about why that “registration opens September 14” does not. And when the date moves, and dates do move, every milestone shifts with it instead of being recalculated and retyped row by row.

Source: Borrowed from launch countdown notation and standard in production scheduling. The DevOpsDays organizing guide publishes its entire runway this way, from “T-12 Months to Event: Kick off venue search, if needed” through “Month of Event: Host.”

First used in: 1.3 · The runway.