I recently read an article by Tom DeMarco. I agree with the points he makes about control over software projects.
I frequently see the desire to control every aspect of a project from the number of hours the team works on any given day to listing every detailed task for the project before the project ever starts.
There is far too much focus on the end date of a project which causes everyone to forget what the more important goal; transformation of the company or how it does business.
Here is a link to the complete article (PDF) http://www2.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2009/0709/rW_SO_Viewpoints.pdf.