Comment by groby_b
There's no point in measuring progress if you don't have a defined end point.
And if you have a defined endpoint, you will get the "is it far? Are we there yet?" question. For good reasons.
Maybe your software needs to hit at a certain point, or a lot of money will be losts (ask e-commerce folks about Black Friday). That means you'll need to try to course correct as soon as possible if you take the wrong road - "IDK, but we made progress in the last two weeks" isn't helping.
Maybe your software needs a marketing push. The buy for that is months ahead of when it happens. You better know if you can make that date.
Maybe other teams depend on you delivering working software at a certain point.
"We make progress every sprint" is a nice feeling. It doesn't help you in any of those situations. Especially large-scale efforts need some planning and estimation to work out.
We have all collectively forgotten that the main purpose of the burndown chart was to teach upper management about the wages of scope creep and vague requirements. They've taken our paddle and are spanking us with it.