1. Hiring manager doesn't make sense in such a project. There is a good joke about project managers. They are people who think that 9 women will give birth in one month. As a freelancer I would not hire a person who only tells me what to do and set unrealistic deadlines - this I could do by myself.
Another thing is about those "realistic dates". 2 weeks ago, after a week stuck at 97%, DC posted "almost finished" and that we wait for last 2 animations. At that point, bug testing should start. I can't imagine that now, after 2 weeks, we have 200 bugs with those 2 animations that were finally delivered. That is, in fact, bad project management.
0.17 was released 6 months ago - If this update doesn't end up having lots of content then I see no point in further supporting it.